


Slow Tango On High

by Nova_Fearnewood



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU of season one, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Boners, Awkwardness, Dancing, Don't Judge Me, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Fantasizing, Hormones, It Still Has Plot, Lab Sex, Masturbation, My First Smut, Oral Sex, POV Alternating, Paris (City), Porn Magazines, Sex, Sexual Content, Sexual Fantasy, Skye doesnt get shot, Vibrators, Ward doesn't turn evil, almost shower sex, basically Hydra doesn't exsist, look at all these spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-01-09 17:20:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 71,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1148743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova_Fearnewood/pseuds/Nova_Fearnewood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stuck on the BUS, high in the sky, four teammates find themselves overcome with sexual urges.<br/>Skye is deprived, Ward has a problem with boners, Simmons has her fantasies, and Fitz has a stash of dirty magazines hidden in the Lab.<br/>Skye likes Ward and Ward likes Skye but they won't tell each other.<br/>Fitz and Simmons have always had feelings for each other, but neither of them has the guts to say so until now.<br/>What could possibly go wrong?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Liftoff

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own anything and I'm broke, so don't sue me.  
> This is my first smut fic, so I'm sorry if it sucks.  
> This is also my first attempt at writing Fitz with a Scottish accent, so forgive me for that too.

It is a widely known and accepted fact that all humans have urges.

Sexual urges.

The worst place to have these urges is on the BUS, flying several thousand feet in the air over the Pacific Ocean without booze or hard drinks on board to drown those urges out.

What makes it even worse is when one is an Agent of SHIELD and has to obey the rules to a t, which also meant one had to be sneaky (and downright creative) when taking care of those urges the old fashioned way.  Most agents are disciplined enough and have learned how to ignore the urge.

But for Skye, Ward, Simmons, and Fitz, those urges can only be ignored for so long.

 

 

* * *

**Skye POV**

_“Think of something else…don’t think about locking your door and using your vibrator… everyone will hear it and know what you’re doing! You shouldn’t be sad either, you finally found where you belong, you should be happy!“_ , my conscience yelled  from inside my head.

Even after two weeks, I was still kind of getting over the fact that my lifelong dream of finding my parents was shattered and that my search for them was over, since I was an 0-84, or an Object of Unknown Origin, but I was still human and I was still a woman.

A woman who was having crying jags and feeling horny at the same time.

I wasn’t the only one that was acting strange either, in fact, everyone except for May and Coulson was acting odd.

Ward would avoid touching me while we were training and he would avoid sitting next to me at meals and during  movie night with FitzSimmons. We still talked and trained but it wasn’t always the know-it-all and the holier-than-thou part of Ward that was doing the talking. It was the understanding and caring side of Ward, the side of him that I didn’t even think existed.

Simmons would space off in the Lab and then  get all  flustered when Fitz  and I would snap her out of her daze. She would stare at Fitz and then I noticed how her hand would quiver a bit before she would adjust her belt  and let out a soft sigh.

Fitz however was entirely different. He would be reading something in a manila folder and then whenever one of us would ask him what he was reading, he would close the folder, open up a filing cabinet and stuff it inside before blushing and saying it was nothing.

Everyone was probably just stressed that’s all.

“Skye, wheels up in  five minutes…”, Ward said as he poked his head in my bunk and I hastily wiped my eyes so he wouldn’t see my tears.

Too late, Ward was too keen of an observer to miss that.

“Hey, Skye… are you still upset about what Coulson told you?”, he asked, sitting on my bed.

“Well yeah, I mean, how would you feel about someone telling you that, for 21 years, you had hope that your parents were still out there somewhere and that your lifelong search for them was all for nothing because you are an 0-84. Imagine you’ve finally found your place in the world and it was in the last place you expected to find it… that’s a lot to digest.”

Ward glanced down at his feet.

“Yeah, you’re right, that is a lot for one person to take in, but I’m here for you if you want to talk… I may be a ‘robot’ but I’m a ‘robot’ that cares for his rookie.”, he replied and he smiled at me softly before getting up and leaving.

“Thanks Ward.”, I said.

“You can call me _Grant_ …”, he replied over his shoulder, and I could’ve sworn that he said his own name in a sexy tone, but it was probably just my hormone-drunk imagination playing tricks on me.

Either way, now I _really_  wanted  to lock my door and use my vibrator for its intended purpose, to hell with what anyone else thought!

Grant Ward is the hottest guy I have ever met and he frequently appeared in my sexy fantasies.

Everything about him was a turn on nowadays!

I heard the telltale ding and looked up to find my seatbelt light on.

“This is your pilot speaking, take your seats and fasten your seatbelts, wheels up in two minutes and no Fitz, we are not taking off vertically.”, May said over the intercom.

_Oh well, maybe I can wait until we’ve landed in the Philippines to scratch my itch…_

* * *

**Ward POV**

“You are now free to move about the cabin”, May said after we were up in the air.

I promptly unbuckled my seatbelt and went to my bunk.

As I locked the door behind myself, I let out a low groan and looked down at the front of my trousers.

Dammit.

I had pitched another tent in my pants.

This keeps happening whenever I go around Skye, I’m fine until she looks at me with those doe eyes of hers and then I just get hard.

What made matters worse was May ending our ‘Friends With Benefits’ arrangement because she saw me checking out Skye and basically told me that if I wanted an actual relationship, screwing around with her was not the sort of thing I should be doing.

I knew that I had feelings for Skye in a friendly sort of way but she is so unlike me.

She was always very pretty and now that she’s learned that SHIELD was the reason why she was bounced around from one foster home to another, she’s become really serious about not disappointing anyone else on the BUS (not that she was a disappointment, but that she did some disappointing things).

She doesn’t annoy me as much anymore and I can’t believe I’m thinking it, but I actually miss her annoying quirks. They gave her personality and character that could only be referred to as 'Skye'.

Now she’s reduced to an emotional mess that would rather spend more time downstairs working out her anger on the punching bag than tapping away on her computer.

She found the push to get serious, she had her defining moment that every rookie has and she’s changed because of it.

I miss parts of the old Skye…

I think, no, _I know_ , that part of me is attracted to Skye… why else would I get a hard on around her?

I wasn’t allowed to like her though, even if she is perfect in every way…

_Did I just admit to myself that Skye, is perfect in every way?_

_What the fuck is wrong with me?_

I’m  her SO for Christ’s sake!

Sure, we have about an eleven year age gap between us, I’m 32 and she’s 21, so it’s not like I'm way too old for her… but still, having an affair with your rookie, who happens to be the hottest woman on here, is very unprofessional.

_Then again, so was having sex with May... and she's in her late forties...._

I shook my head.

_You moron, age is just a number..._

I slid down the wall in my bunk and sighed.

The more I thought about Skye, the harder I got.

I groaned as my trousers became way too tight around my cock and I undid my belt so that it wouldn’t  be so confining.

Why me?

I tried thinking of unpleasant things but Skye somehow found a way into those thoughts too.

_Okay, disturbing mental imagery isn’t working… time for Plan B, I have to take care of this problem the old fashioned way…_

I let out a groan as I freed myself from the material prison and used a bit of the lotion I had stashed under my bed to slick my palms before I grasped myself and began working.

I pushed the guilt of jerking myself off like a horny teenager out of my mind and focused on mentally undressing the carbon copy of Skye who lived in my imagination. 

Her eyes, her lips, her hair and her body were coming into focus as I tensed up.

_Careful there, you almost lost it…_

I tried not to make a sound as I felt myself getting closer, biting my lip to keep from letting out a moan, but that didn’t stop me from growling out one word as I pushed myself over the edge.

_“Skye…”_

* * *

**Simmons POV**

In my head, a lot of things happened and they were my daydreams… it hurt to realize that the world in my head was better than the one I was living in now, but that’s just how it is.

In my daydreams, I’m prettier and Fitz always notices when I fix my hair differently, I’m just perfect and everything goes according to plan.

Fitz and I are together, just the way I’ve always hoped we’d be and I’m the only one who matters to him.

_I’m his girl._

Another thing that usually happens (especially now that I’m feeling kind of horny) is that I have sexual fantasies about Fitz and myself doing a myriad of inappropriate things together whilst in various states of undress.

Just watching him work when I was in an aroused state of mind was enough to make me ruin a pair of knickers.

“Simmons? Are ye’ gonna help me wit' this or are ye’ jus’ gonna stand there?”, Fitz asked, a slight note of annoyance creeping into his all too perfect Scottish accent.  

“Oh, sorry Fitz, I-I just had a thought about a new grade of dendrotoxin to use in the Night-Night guns…”, I lied as I helped Fitz move a heavy piece of tracking equipment to the main workbench so that he could install a few upgrades.

“I don’ know what’s been up with ye’ recently but it’s startin’ ta worry me. Is everything okay?”, Fitz asked as we steadied the equipment on the workbench and he fixed me with his stormy blue/grey eyes.

I was the worst liar in history with the absolute worst poker face, but I had to lie about my daydreams, they were far too embarrassing for me to tell Fitz, as most of them did concern him.

I looked away and fiddled with the knobs on my microscope.

“No, I’m fine Fitz, really, I am.”, I lied.

He placed a hand on mine and I felt myself blushing behind my curtain of hair.

“Jemma… don’ lie ta me… we’re best friends, we've known each other for almos' nine years now, I can tell when yer not bein’ honest wit' me.”, he murmured almost lovingly.

I lifted my head and brushed my hair away before pulling away from his hand.

“I’m not lying to you Fitz, it’s just that some things I prefer to keep to myself that’s all.”, I replied, still avoiding his gaze.

“But ye’ know that ye’ can trust me wit' anything right?”, He asked and he sounded hurt.

I turned around and saw him gazing at the fire extinguisher that I used to knock him out.

I strode over to him and stood by his side.

“You know that I do.”

“Then can ye’ please tell me what’s botherin’ ye’ so?”

I sighed.

I could still tell him that I _had_   daydreams and just keep it at that… I didn’t have to tell him about my fantasies…

“Well, Fitz, I like to daydream sometimes… you know, just let my mind wander off and be free because I love science but my mind needs a break from it every now and again…”

“So yer jus’ daydreamin’ away over there?”, he asked and a slight smile pulled up the corners of his mouth as he dried his hands, “Whatcha daydreamin’ about?”, he asked.

“Oh, they’re quite self-centered really…”, I said and tried to brush the subject off.

“Let’s hear em’ then, shall we?”, Fitz asked, sitting down at his lab stool.

I knew that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer so I decided to tell him one of my oldest and fondest daydreams (and I don’t mean the one where Fitz pins me to the workbench and has his way with me, although that could fit the description quite well).

“Alright… I’ll tell you one of my personal favorites…”, I began, “almost all girls dream about their wedding day at some point, I began dreaming about mine when I was six.”

“Didn’t quite expect that from ye’… but go on…”

“I’m dressed in all white, my hair is fixed similar to how it was during our Graduates’ Ball at the Academy, only I have the small pearl tiara that my mum wore for her wedding in my hair and that has my veil attached to it… I’m wearing a gown similar to Duchess Kate’s with the long lace sleeves and modest neckline only it’s bodice laces up in back and the skirt doesn’t flare out that much. “, I murmur with my eyes shut, the image forming in my mind’s eye.

“Gosh Jems, tha’ way ye’ describe yerself as a bride sounds as though ye’ been thinking about settling down more often than not…”, Fitz chuckled softly. "Continue..."

“My bridesmaids would be dressed in royal blue gowns with touches of gold here and there… the flowers in my bouquet are blue and gold…”

“What about yer’ groom an' his groomsmen? What are they wearin’?”, Fitz asked.

“I never imagined a groom actually, or his groomsmen… I always thought that my husband-to-be would want to plan that aspect of the wedding for himself…”, I said, telling him only a half truth.

The truth was that, ever since I met Fitz, all I could see my groom wearing was a kilt and a tuxedo top, as Scottish tradition called for.

I couldn't let the dream of seeing the two of us getting married die...It was far too precious to me.

Deep down, I had always loved Fitz but those feelings have been floating much closer to the surface since he almost jumped out of a plane to save me.    

“Ah well, that wedding o’ yer’s sounds like a right posh affair… Ye' would make a beautiful bride... I hope ye’ get ta have yer' ideal wedding one day an' I hope I’m invited… especially if there’s an open bar, ye’ know I’ll make my signature party punch… that’ll get yer guests havin’ a fantastic time at the reception, besides Jems, I know how ye’ love that punch…”, Fitz laughed.

Something changed inside of me and I almost imagined Fitz saying, _"I hope I'm yer' groom..."_ , instead of, _"I hope I'm invited..."_ , because the way he looked at me in that moment was so impossibly gentle and yet so pensive... like he was picturing me as his bride too. I shook myself gently out of my thoughts and remembered that Fitz was still here.

“You’re right, I do like that punch of yours. You’d always make it when you were working behind the bar in the Boiler Room. Do you remember when we swapped the normal punch at the graduates ball with your signature punch?”, I laughed in reply.

“An' everyone got roarin’ drunk but us?”, he added.

“Yes! It was one of the few pranks we played at the academy…”, I replied as Coulson walked into the lab.

“Fitz. I need you to take a look at Lola, she’s been making strange noises and I think it’s time for a tune up…”, he said, tossing Fitz the keys to his precious Lola and Fitz snatched them out of the air with one hand, “Do your thing…”, he said before leaving.

Fitz turned to me.

“Well Jems, it was nice hearin’ about yer’ dream wedding… I’m gonna change into my mechanic’s jumpsuit an get ta work on Lola… good luck with that new grade o’ dendrotoxin…”, he said as he left the lab.

I put my iPhone into the iHome dock in the lab and began playing my music as I started working on the new grade of dendrotoxin (which I had to formulate now that I had lied about it to Fitz).

I started to let my mind wander again, only this time it was my other fantasy of Fitz and I having sex in the lab.

I closed my eyes and let my imagination take over…

_Fitz pushed me up against the wall of the Lab, our lips crushed against each other’s and our tongues wrestling for dominance._

_Fitz shifted us around and released me momentarily as I struggled out of my jumper and blouse._

_I turned my back to him as I unhooked my bra and he came up behind me. I felt the evidence of his arousal pressing into my backside and that made me quiver._

_He flipped me around and I practically ripped his shirt open to run my hands over the smooth planes of his chest and his abs. He wasn’t a solid wall of rippling muscle like Ward, but he had lots of lean muscle that was still firm enough to make me quiver with excitement._

_He kissed down my neck and bit at the place where my neck and shoulders met, making me moan._

_He pushed me up against the workbench in the middle of the Lab as I struggled to get him out of his trousers._

_He threw the last articles of my clothes to the side, his following behind mine as I sat with my knees apart on the workbench._

_“Does it turn ye’ on Jemma? Knowin’ that we could get caught like this?  Does the risk of givin’ May, Coulson, Ward or Skye a free show make ye’ want this?”, He whispered huskily into my ear._

_“Yes… oh… Leo…”, I moaned back in reply as his dexterous fingers dipped between my legs._

_“Jemma… yer’ so wet… is it all for me?”, he asked as he pushed his ring and middle fingers inside of me and found my g-spot quickly, curling his fingers inside of me and making the slightest of  'come hither' motions_ _._

_“It’s only for you…”, I moaned back helplessly as his thumb began worrying away at my clit._

_He growled possessively at my words as my breathing hitched._

_I was getting so close._

_“My God woman… do ye’ have any clue how crazy ye’ make me?”, he growled into my ear before nipping the shell of it gently._

_“Please Leo… take me…”_

_“If ye’ insist…”, he whispered before gasping as I wrapped my hand around his shaft and guided it towards myself._

_“Jemma…”_

_“Do it Leo…”, I said as I removed my hand from his shaft._

_He groped around and then we locked eyes before he entered me._

“Jemma?”

_He was so good at making me moan._

“Jemma? Are ye’ okay?”

_I was so close…_

“Oi, Jemma, if ye’ don’ snap outta it, I’m gonna throw a bucket o’ water on ye’!”, Fitz called, snapping me back to reality.

He had his blue mechanic’s jumpsuit on, a black shirt beneath it, his black combat boots laced up, and his mechanic’s gloves pulled firmly into place. He put on his safety glasses and grabbed his tool bag and grease rag from underneath his workbench.

This down to earth and masculine change in attire made me ache for him...

“Sorry Fitz, I just got sidetracked…”

“Jemma, ye’ gotta stop daydreamin’ sometime or yer’ gonna end up makin' a mistake in yer’ calculations an’  that could cause God-knows-what ta happen. I don’ wanna see ye’ gettin’ hurt on account o’ some daydream…”, he smiled, “As my mum always told me, ‘Save the dreamin’ for bedtime’. Good Luck Jems.”, he said before walking out to Lola and popping the hood.

“Thanks Fitz…”, I murmured as the doors to the Lab whooshed closed behind him.

I glanced around for my notebook where I listed all my ideas including what grades of dendrotoxins I had already tested and labeled as failures.

“Maybe Fitz put it in his filing cabinet by accident…”, I mused aloud as I went over and opened up the top drawer of his cabinet and began leafing through its contents.

A bright color caught my eye amid the blueprints and manila folders and I backtracked until I came across the colorful item and pulled it out of the drawer.

I stared at the item, a magazine, for a split second before I realized what it was, then I threw it down and screeched “OH MY GOD!!!” as the truth hit me.

* * *

**Fitz POV**

Simmons has been daydreaming lately but at least her thoughts have kept her from discovering my secret hobby, which is quite embarrassing.

Ever since I went out on my own at seventeen, I haven’t had a girlfriend so, like many lonely young men, I turned to porn.

I was using videos to get myself off until I heard that the Academy computers had special programs that would detect things like porn websites and that the Wi-Fi was protected by the same types of programs as the computers.

Then I turned to magazines, but then came the challenge of hiding them.

At the Academy I had a false bottom in one of my desk drawers where I would hide the magazines but when I graduated and started working at Sci-Ops with Simmons, I had to get creative with my hiding places.

I outfitted a laptop bag with a secret compartment that was big enough for my magazines and I hid a few others around my room in the flat that Simmons and I shared during our time at Sci-Ops.

When Simmons and I joined Coulson’s team, I really had to step up my game.

I now have hiding places in my filing cabinets, one under my mattress, I still have the laptop bag plus a few other bags with similar compartments, and the top of the nightstand in my bunk is on hinges with a hidden compartment there too.

I guess it helps to be a genius engineer.

Now in the SHIELD handbook, it doesn’t say that pornography is totally banned, it’s only banned when in the digital form, so technically I’m not breaking any rules by having my magazines, I just don’t think it’s very proper to let my teammates and friends know I have them.

Simmons can daydream all she wants as long as she doesn’t do it in the Lab where she might make a mistake, but there have been times when I would be alone and I would look at my magazines. I almost got caught looking at one once by Skye.

I was noticing that my magazines alone weren’t doing the trick anymore because I kept imagining Simmons in the various poses instead of the actual models.

It was annoying at first until I realized that my mental image of Jemma Simmons in those poses was a lot more effective when I felt the need to get myself off. 

Then again, that did make much more sense to me, I mean, I’ve had a crush on Jemma Simmons since the day I met her.  

I leaned over Lola’s engine and began tinkering away.

_I wonder what else Jemma is thinking about besides that dream wedding of hers…_

 “OH MY GOD!”, Jemma gasped from the Lab, loud enough for me to hear it through the semi soundproof glass doors.

I looked up and saw she had one of my filing cabinet drawers open.

Then I saw the look of disgust on her face and realized that my secret was out.

She looked in my direction and the look on her face said it all quite clearly.

_“Leopold Fitz, you had better march yourself in here right this second and give me an explanation for this.”_

I entered the Lab as Jemma glared at me.

“Fitz,”, she began in an even tone, “can you please tell me why you have a dirty magazine in the Lab?”

“Well, I get desperate sometimes…”, I said lamely.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?”, she asked.

“I’m sorry?”, I said, making it sound more like a question than an actual apology.

She huffed in agitation and shook her head in disappointment.

“Why the Lab though? Why not hide it in your bunk where I wouldn’t find it in passing?”, she asked.

I could tell she was disgusted with me for keeping something like that in the Lab, but I had to give her points for maintaining composure instead of yelling at me like I thought she would.

“I don’t know why I decided to hide it here…”, I replied, not knowing exactly why I decided the Lab was a safe place to hide a dirty magazine. “You aren’t mad are you?”, I asked.

“No, I’m not mad… I understand how people get when they’re deprived… I’m just a bit disappointed because I thought you wouldn’t have to use things like that to get yourself, well, in the mood…”

At this point, I wish she would just yell at me because her disappointment was like pulling an adhesive bandage off slowly, it hurt a lot and the pain lingered even after the bandage was gone. If she yelled at me, the theoretical bandage would be ripped off quickly and it would only hurt for a second.

“What do you want me to do?”, I asked.

“Get rid of them… get them out of the Lab and don’t let me find them in here again…”, she said, pushing the Playboy across the table towards me. “I’m sorry if this is embarrassing for you…”, she said softly.

“Why are you apologizing to me? I had this coming from the moment I decided to hide this in here… I’m sorry you had to find out that this was the type of person I am… My God, I’m no better than some teenage boy who can’t control himself…”, I said, now fully feeling the shame that I deserved.

“It’s my fault for looking around in your cabinet… I just wanted to find my notebook.”, she said and then I noticed her sniffle a bit.

“Jems… you aren’t crying are you?”, I asked as I threw the Playboy (now smudged with grease from Lola) in my laptop bag and walked over to her.

She wiped her eyes and said,

“Yes Fitz, I’m crying…”

“But why?”

“I don’t like being disappointed in you.”

“But you don’t have to be so upset about it… I know I messed up, but you shouldn’t feel so terrible…  it’s not your fault for finding it, it’s my fault for keeping them there… if it makes you feel any better, I was starting to not need them anyway…”

I wanted to hug her and tell her I was still the man she thought I was, but it was too late for all of that. 

“And why don’t you need them? Have you found something better to get off to?”, she asked, finally sounding angry. “Why don’t you need them anymore?”

“Well…yes…”, I began, and then a thought flashed through my mind.

Maybe I should just tell her the truth, that those airbrushed models pale in comparison to  her. Perhaps it’s time I tell her exactly how I feel about her…

“Go on Fitz, I’m waiting…”

I took a deep breath and steeled myself.

“Jemma, I’ve always liked you and I’ve stopped using those magazines because my feelings for you have grown…”, I admitted.

She stared at me with a blank expression on her face for the longest time.

“What?”, she finally asked.

I pulled off my greasy gloves and placed them on my workbench.

“Um, I’ve always liked you…”

“I heard that. Why did you stop using the magazines?”

“Because you are prettier than any photo,  smarter than any model, and you put every other woman to shame when it comes to being compassionate towards the ones you care about.”

“I’m very flattered by that but, I’m afraid I may not fully understand what you’re telling me. You’re telling me that you substituted your dirty magazines for thoughts of me?”, she asked.

“Uh, yeah.”, I replied.

“So you get turned on by _me_?”, she asked.

“Yes.”, I answered.

“Well… this is awkward…”, she replied, brows raised.

“Why? You don’t like me that way?”, I asked, bracing myself for the rejection that was sure to come.

“Well…”

“So that’s it then? I’m just your friend?”, I asked, feeling like a damned fool for even hoping that Jemma would reciprocate my feelings.

“Fitz… You’re my best friend…”, she replied and I felt my heart sink as I turned away, “But…”

She spun me around, grabbed me by my collar, and pressed her lips firmly against mine before releasing me just as quickly.

She was blushing beet red and then it hit me.

_Jemma Simmons just kissed me._

“Of course I feel the same way Fitz!”, she confessed. “How could I not possib-”, I interrupted her by kissing her back.

This time it wasn’t some swift peck on the lips, but I held her like I always wanted to and she wrapped her arms around my neck to pull me closer.

This had to be the best day of my life.


	2. New Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coulson tells the team about a new mission that will require acting classes, romance, and dancing shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your feedback and your Kudos!  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Skye POV**

I passed by Ward’s bunk on my way to the on-board kitchen when I heard him groan from inside the room.

I stopped in my tracks.

“Wa- Grant?”, I asked, knocking on his door, “Are you okay?”

“What? Yeah… I-I’m fine…”, he replied in a gravelly voice, and I would’ve brushed it off but he stuttered.

Grant Ward NEVER stutters.

“Are you sure?”, I asked, “You don’t sound fine.”

 “Trust me Skye… I’m fine.”

“Okay then… if you say so…”, I replied, still concerned for Ward’s well-being, after all, I do like him a lot.

I mean, there aren’t really a lot of things a person could dislike about him. Sure he wasn’t really a people person or even outwardly nice to everyone, but once you got to know him a little better, he was nice in his own ways.

His killer body, perfect voice, and his hidden personality and character traits that, when they were revealed, broke his hard exterior.

He was amazing and I knew I would probably never get a chance to be with him in a romantic way, but I liked to think that someday we would. 

I proceeded into the kitchen and fixed myself a PB&J sandwich before heading back to my own bunk for lunch.

I was on edge and being in close quarters with Grant didn’t help at all.

"The sooner we land in Manila, the better.", I muttered out loud.

As I passed Ward’s bunk again I heard him moaning something.

I was careful to not be heard over Ward’s moans (which weren’t overwhelmingly loud) as I put my sandwich on the bar and pressed my ear to his door.

Then he whispered one word with an aroused tone.

_“Skye…..”_

I pulled back from the door in surprise, not sure if I should be aroused or astonished.

I shook my head, thinking I had heard wrong, before putting my ear to the door again.

 _“Skye…”_ , he moaned again, pleasure evident in his voice.

A shiver rolled down my spine and goosebumps erupted on my skin. Warmth spread throughout my body and pooled in my lower abdomen as I inhaled sharply.

Hearing him growl my name in a tone laced with want and pleasure was enough to make me ruin my panties and I was very close to doing just that.

I don’t know what came over me in that moment, but I heard Ward growl my name a third time and I reacted to it, sharply inhaling again when my knees went weak for a second and I bumped my knee against his door as I tried to balance myself.

All of Ward’s low moans were stifled completely and I held my breath, staying as still as a statue.

I knew he was listening for any movement outside his bunk and I was listening for any movement within his bunk.

The plane suddenly hit a bit of turbulence and shuddered, rattling the bottles behind the bar loudly and providing the right cover noise for me to make my escape.

I heard quick movement on the other side of his door, grabbed my sandwich, and bolted to my bunk across the common area, closing the door just as we pulled out of the turbulence. The second I activated the lock to my door was the moment I heard Ward’s door open.

I heard the water running at the sink behind the bar and knew that I had only a minute before Ward would most likely knock on my door.

I had YouTube open on my computer and quickly pressed the refresh button and put on my headphones before taking a bite of my sandwich.

A few seconds later, there was a knock at the door and I unlocked it, making sure to act like I didn’t just hear Grant Ward moaning my name while he was (most likely) masturbating.

I opened the door and found none other than Ward standing there. His face was flushed, his hair was mussed, his eyes had darkened, and he was breathing a bit heavy.

But the thing that really floored me was the fact  that his _scent_ had changed from him smelling like Irish Spring and gun cleaner to an overpowering smell that I could only categorize as arousal and it was laced with the faint smell of hand lotion.

So he _was_ masturbating…

 “Oh, hey Grant. What’s up?”, I asked nonchalantly while I fought the overwhelming urge to pull him all the way into my bunk, lock the door, and have my way with him.

“Well, I--”, he began before Coulson walked by.

“We have another mission, meet me in the command center in five.”, he said, “And Ward, if you’re trying out a new hairstyle, let me be the first one to say that it isn’t working for you…”.

Coulson went down to the Lab and I turned back to Ward who was using my wall mirror to fix his hair.

“You were saying?”

“Oh, yeah… did you hear something a while ago?”, he asked.

“Nope.”, I lied, popping the ‘p’, “The only thing I heard was Daft Punk…”, I said, pointing to my computer screen.

“Okay good.”

“Why, was I supposed to hear something?”

“No, no…”, he said, shaking his head, “If you didn’t hear it…It’s not that important…”

We walked into the command center and sat around the touchscreen table.

“Skye… I think I need to tell you something…”, Ward began but fell silent as FitzSimmons and Coulson entered the room. A soft ‘bing’ was heard, signaling to us that the autopilot feature had been engaged. May joined us a few seconds later.

“Alright now that we’re all here, I suppose we can get right down to business, this is an undercover mission that will take four people. Centipede is in a new location now which is why we are also changing our destination. Manila will only be used as a refueling station and as a place to do our laundry. We will spend one day in the Philippines but we will not leave the SHIELD Base for security and visa reasons.”, Coulson said.

“Where are we going then Sir?”, Simmons asked.

“Brush up on your French, we’re headed to Paris.”, Coulson said.

I got excited at his words. I had always wanted to go to Paris and see the Eiffel Tower.

“Who’s on the four man team?”, May asked, “You know how I feel about undercover work.”

“Relax May.”, Coulson said, “We’ll be on the BUS. Ward, Skye, and FitzSimmons will be going undercover as four attendees at a formal ball in Paris hosted by a couple we think may be high-ranking members of Centipede… Louis and Madeline Noir. They are a young wealthy couple, both born as only children to old money families, Louis’s and Madeline’s parents are dead, leaving them as the sole heir and heiress of their respective family fortunes. They married when they were in their early twenties and combined their fortunes, making themselves multibillionaires. They ditched their old family names and took up the surname ‘Noir’. The ball is in the evening on Valentine’s Day and it’s one of the Noir’s annual events. It’s a chance for two of you to mingle and distract the hosts as the other two find out what they can about the Noir’s involvement with Centipede while everyone is enjoying the most romantic night of the year in the most romantic place on the planet.”

A photo of the couple popped up and I was surprised, they looked so _happy_ together, not at all what I would expect from supposedly evil people, but I had learned early on that looks could be deceiving.

 “S’cuse me Sir, but wha’ exactly will we be doin’ while we’re there?”, Fitz asked.

“All that will be explained in time  but it is implied that you use the covers of two wealthy couples travelling together, one of the couples will have to be either engaged or married, the other will be in a serious relationship.”

“Couples?”, Simmons asked.

“Yeah couples, so start acting like Fitz is your significant other, same for you and Skye.”, Coulson said, pointing to Ward and I, “I’m sorry if I seem a bit terse, but this is a high stakes mission, one false move could compromise the entire operation and in turn cost you your lives. This is why I want you to adopt the roles immediately…you can decide who wants to play the part of the engaged or married couple.”

Ward nodded.

“Oh and another thing, you need to learn how to dance.”

“Dance?”, Fitz, Simmons, and I asked in unison.

“Yes. Dance. At the ball, you must dance to fit in with the other guests. Do not forget how important it is to maintain these roles. If there are no more questions, then you are dismissed.”

* * *

**Ward POV**

I’m supposed to get into character and be Skye’s “boyfriend”, “fiancée”, or even her “husband” for this Paris mission and I was having mixed feelings about this.

What if I let my true feelings for Skye show to add authenticity to the cover? What if I got too attached to a fake relationship? What if she feels the same way? What if she doesn’t? How do I keep myself from getting hard?

I was getting so messed up here, I was sure I was imagining things, I mean just a few minutes ago, I could’ve sworn that someone was outside of my bunk and eavesdropping while I jerked off.  

My mind was practically screaming that this cover was a bad idea, but my heart was already wanting to be close to Skye. To be the man she could depend on.

Skye opened the door to the spiral staircase that led down to the Lab/Ramp area of the plane, following FitzSimmons down.

“So…we have to be all lovey towards each other, huh?”, Skye stated blandly as we entered the Lab and sat down. “And either FitzSimmons or Grant and I have to pretend to be engaged or married.”

We all just gave her the  ‘No shit, Sherlock’ look and sat in silence, not really sure about what we should say.

“So I suppose we should start acting like couples… Agent Coulson _did_ say that a botched mission could cost us our lives…”, Simmons suggested after a tense minute passed, “Agent Ward, maybe you should show us how to get into character, since you’re the only one of us here who has gone undercover enough times to know what to do.”

I shrugged.

 “Sure…”

I closed my eyes, speaking to Skye as I thought.

“Skye, I want to see how well you can adopt your role as my supposed girlfriend too, so get ready. I’ll pretend that we’re at the Noir Ball and that we’ve just finished our undercover mission. Now we have to leave without attracting too much attention to ourselves.”

“On it.”, she muttered.

I thought of  the perfect guy for Skye and then the perfect high-society gentleman, combining the two to get a hybrid character.

“Ready?”, I asked, slipping into character.

“Ready.”, she replied.

I opened my eyes and found her staring at me.

I forgot what I was doing for a second as I drowned in her warm brown eyes, then I walked across the Lab to her.

“Darling you look positively stunning this evening…”, I said in a voice that was both manly and gentle.

“Well thank you for noticing Grant, I think you look equally handsome.”, she replied, lowering her eyelids slightly as a warm grin spread across her lips.

God she is so beautiful, much more than I deserve, so much more than I will probably ever get.

“I couldn’t help but notice that my girlfriend happens to be the most beautiful woman here… She’s the envy of everyone that meets her gaze.”, I said in a low voice, trying to get her to react.

“We’ve been dancing around the truth and each other for so long…”, she murmured, drawing nearer.

“Well then Skye, what would you like to do? Personally, I’ve been bored for the past half hour…”, I said, keeping my voice even.

 “I personally feel the need to bid our hosts au revoir… would you like to take this somewhere more…”, she lowered her eyelids and bit her lower lip before murmuring, “…private? Say the hotel?”

She got really close to me and looked straight into my eyes before trailing her long perfect index finger down my chest.

I was about to lose it (if I wasn’t still in my refractory period from blowing my load a few minutes ago, I would probably have a hard on) when I slipped out of character and said,

“And that was great Skye. You really got into the character.”

A disappointed look crossed her face before she smirked and dropped the charade. FitzSimmons applauded from the other side of the Lab.

“Tha’ was amazing!”, Fitz said, “The two o’ ya really got inta character… I wonder if Simmons and I will be able to beat tha’.”

Simmons looked at Fitz and replied,

“I don’t know if we _can_ , but we’ll certainly _try_.”

“Skye, that was a flawless act. Great job.”, I said with a smile.

“Wow, you actually paid me a compliment…”, she said with a laugh.

 “Ward’s right though, ye’ are really great wit’ the whole gettin’ inta character thing…”, Fitz piped up from the other side of the room.

“Okay now it’s your turn!”, Skye announced, pointing to the two scientists.

“No problem.”, Simmons said, turning away from Fitz to a complex piece of machinery. “So I guess we’ll just pretend to be working together and being romantic at the same time then, since I’ve never really done this before.”, Simmons said. “I’m ready.”

“Go right ahead with that, but we’ll have to test different scenarios eventually.”, I replied.

FitzSimmons nodded and then Fitz said,

“Ready.”

“Fitz, could you show me how to take the panel off  and rewire the system to get to the thermostat chamber?”, Simmons asked, starting off the improvisation, and the look she gave Fitz was so loving, it almost looked like she wasn’t acting at all.

“No problem Simmons.”, he said, and he gave her a similar loving look.

When Fitz came over, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her smaller frame, placing his hands on her hands, gently guiding them as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Tha’ first thing ye’ wanna do is get tha’ righ’ type o’ screwdriver to match tha’ screws that are holdin’ tha’ panel in place. In this case, ye’ would be needin’ a Phillips Head screwdriver.”

Simmons grasped the tool and said,

“I know that right is tight and left is loose.”

“An’ that’d be correct.”, he murmured.

Simmons got the panel off in no time.

“Now how do I rewire the system?”

“Disconnect tha blue wire first, tha red wire second, an’ tha green wire last.”, Fitz instructed.

Simmons followed his instructions.

“Tha thermostat chamber should be in plain sight.”, Fitz said, taking a step closer to Simmons.

“Now what?”, Simmons asked.

“Ye’ do wha’ ye’ have to do.”

Simmons tinkered around for a while before reconnecting and replacing everything.

“I never really noticed till now how delicate yer’ hands are…”, Fitz murmured, pressing his cheek against Simmons’s cheek, his hands moving to touch hers.

“Fitz, your hands are a bit rough… but the way you work with them is amazing…”, Simmons murmured, turning to face Fitz, “Thank you for helping me.”, she whispered, gazing into Fitz’s eyes as they got closer to each other.

At this point I honestly wondered if they were really going to kiss each other and sell the act.

Actually, the question I _should_ be asking is ‘Are they acting or is this all real?’

   Fitz leaned closer to Simmons, not breaking eye contact as he whispered,

“Tha’ pleasure’s all mine, Simmons…”

They looked like they were going to kiss when Skye cried,

“Just kiss already!”

Fitz and Simmons pushed away from each other quickly and I felt like telling Skye that she should’ve just let them kiss instead of embarrassing them like that.

“Well,”, Simmons began, “that was the best we could do…”

“And that was amazing!”, Skye complimented, “For a while there, I had to remind myself that this was you two acting, because you could’ve easily passed as a couple.”

“Really? I didn’t know we were that good.”, Simmons said.

Fitz had his back to us and was fiddling with something on his desk.

“Hey Fitz,”, I began, “you were really good at selling the act.”

“Thanks.”, he said, not turning around.

My stomach growled and I looked at my watch.

“Skye, do you want to get some lunch?”, I asked, noticing how Simmons had a concerned look on her face as she glanced at Fitz.

“Sure, I already had a sandwich but I’m still kind of hungry.”, she replied.

I walked to the door following Skye and asked,

“FitzSimmons? You joining us?”

Simmons looked up and replied,

“Maybe later, but go on without me.”

“Fitz?”

“Not hungry righ’ now.”, he said, still tinkering away.

I shrugged and left the Lab, wondering if I should say something more.

I went into the kitchen and fixed myself a salad and Skye sat across from me at the table, munching on some carrots and avoiding my gaze.

“Skye? Is something bothering you?”

“Well no—I mean, yes.”, she replied.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“Well, it’s pretty awkward…”, she began, still not meeting my eyes.

“Um, would you rather talk to Simmons?”, I asked, actively avoiding the possibility of ‘girl talk’.

“No… Um, you remember when you asked me if I heard anything?”, she asked, looking up for a second.

“Yeah…”, I replied slowly, hoping that she didn’t hear me moaning her name.

“Well, I was kind of on the way back from the kitchen when I, uh… well, you see, what had happened was…”, she stammered, her face turning beet red.

“What did you hear?”, I asked, punctuating the words.

“Iaccidentallyheardyoujerkingoff.”, she mumbled.

“You what?”, I asked, “Could you repeat that a little slower?”

“I accidentally heard you jerking off… I’m sorry.”, she replied and hid behind her curtain of hair.

“Did you hear anything else?”, I asked, my heart racing at her confession.

“You saying my name.”, she whispered.

Shit.

I guess it was time to tell her the truth.

“Skye, I’ve actually had feelings for you for a while and, well, a guy gets lonely sometimes…”, I said.

“Grant, you have no idea how weird--- Wait, what? You like me?”, she asked, finally looking me in the face.

“Well, yeah…”, I said, internally bracing myself for rejection.

“I feel the same.”, she replied.

My heart raced.

She likes me too!

I feel like an eighth grader who just received a valentine from his crush, I was so nervous and yet so elated.

“So, what does this make us? Friends?”, I asked lamely.

“Maybe a little more than that, but I want to give it some time before we do anything to make it official…”, she replied.

I nodded, finally feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  

“Oh and Grant?”, she asked.

“Yes?”

“I get that way about you sometimes… especially recently… sometimes I need to take care of business, if you get my drift…”, she replied.

I nodded, finally understanding why she was on edge.

“So do you want to practice being a couple?”, I asked, adding quickly, “You know, for the Paris mission…”

“I don’t think I’d mind that at all, _Grant_ …”

 


	3. Perfect In My Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma Simmons is the most beautiful woman in the world.  
> Leo Fitz realizes a very important thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh My God, thank you all for subscribing and leaving Kudos!!  
> And now, some sexy FitzSimmons for my lovely readers.  
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

**Simmons POV**

“Fitz, what’s wrong?”, I asked noticing his distanced attitude.

“Nothing’s wrong…I’m just tryin’ ta figure out what we are.”, he replied.   

  I sighed and walked over to him, placing my hand on his.

“Fitz, what do you want us to be?”, I asked.

He finally turned around and replied,

“Ta’ be quite honest, I want us ta’ be in an actual relationship. I want ta’ be yer’ boyfriend… I’ve liked ye’ since tha’ day I met ye’.”

“I’d like that.”, I said. “I’ve always wanted to be your girlfriend… ever since we met at the Academy.”

“We’ll have ta’ keep tha’ relationship from interferin’ wit’ our work, an’ that’ll take some gettin’ used ta’ on my part.”, he replied. “But I’m goin’ ta’ do my best ta’ keep ye’ happy.”

“You don’t even need to try, I’m already happy with you.”

He offered me a small smile and walked away to the other side of the lab, but I could tell he was still worried about something.

 “Why are you acting like this?”, I asked, wondering why he wasn’t happier now that we were finally a couple.

 “I’m not tryin’ ta be rude or anythin’ like that, I’m just tryin’ ta stop myself from sayin’ somethin’ I may end up regrettin’ later.”, he said, turning to me.

“What would you regret saying?”, I asked, walking over to him.

“If I told ye’ then ye’ would be mad at me.”

“Just tell me, I swear I won’t get mad at you.”

“Fine then. I don’ wan’ ye’ ta come on this mission.”

I was taken aback for a second.

“Why not?”

He looked down and murmured,

“Because tha’ las’ time ye’ were in a risky situation, ye’ almos’ died.”

I thought about when I had the alien virus, how I had almost died and how Fitz tried to save me. I also remembered how terrified I was when Fitz went on the Ossetia mission with Ward… how he was so close to never coming back to me.

 “And the last time you went into the field, _you_ almost died.”

“True.”, he replied.

“Then why don’t you want me coming on this mission?”, I asked, placing my hand on his.

   He pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.

“I don’ know wha’ I’d do if somethin’ ever happened ta’ ye’… I’d probably lose my mind.”, he said, pulling away but still keeping his arms around me to look me in the eyes, “Yer’ my everythin’ Jemma, I couldn’t live without ye’... I told ye’ that I was goin’ ta’ save ye’, Lord knows I almost did, an’ if I didn’t reach ye’ in time, I wouldn’t have bothered ta’ open my parachute…”

His confession almost made me cry.

He would rather die with me than live without me.

I kept back my tears as I placed my palm gently on Fitz’s cheek and murmured,

“You would’ve done that?”

He kissed me on my cheek and whispered,

“Yes. My world would be a very dark place without ye’ Jemma…”

I let myself sink into his embrace, noticing how we seemed to fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.

“You do realize that I’ll still have to come on this mission no matter what? I will try my hardest to stay out of harm’s way as long as you promise me one thing.”

He leaned forward and placed his forehead against mine, staring into my soul, whispering,

“Wha’s that?”

“That you’ll never let me go.”

“I promise.”, he murmured in reply.  

I was amazed at how absolutely loving Fitz was now that we were more than just best friends and partners. My mind slipped back into a fantasy as he held me.

_Our hands were tied together in front of everyone with the Fitz family’s traditional blue, gold, and black strip of tartan, binding my life to his and his to mine in the traditional Scottish marriage rite of handfasting._

“D’ye think that we’ll end up bein’ tha’ serious couple or tha’ engaged pair for tha’ mission?”

“I don’t care, as long as I’m with you.”, I replied, still content with imagining myself as his bride.

I started daydreaming about our honeymoon and that led to my sexual fantasies in a matter of seconds.

_“Take me Leo!”_

“Wha’ are ye’ thinkin’ now?”, he asked.

I made up a quick lie.

“I was thinking about what type of dress I’ll have to wear for the mission.”

 He pulled away and shook his head at me.

“No ye’ weren’t. I can tell when yer’ not bein’ honest. I know ye’, an’ yer’ not  insane over fashion unless it’s tha’ latest sort o’ lab gear from tha’ Sci-Ops catalog.”, he said with a smirk, “Besides, yer’ blushin’, so it mus’ be somethin’ other than a ball gown.”

I should’ve known that I could never get away with lying to him, he had known me far too long for that.

“Well, I’m sorry Fitz, sometimes I like to have my daydreams.”

“An’ that’s all well an’ good, but I want ta’ hear about yer’ daydreams…”, he said.

I felt my face get hot.

“We’ve never kept secrets from each other, an’ tha’ only time I did was when it was about my collection o’ dirty magazines… Ye’ can tell me anythin’.”

Maybe I should just tell him, after all, he did tell me that he got off to thoughts of me… I was just as guilty when I found myself ruining my knickers over a fantasy of him.

Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t because of how society thinks. If a man says he gets off to thoughts of attractive women in sexual situations, people will still think of him as a pervert but less than a woman if she said something of that nature.

How would Fitz react if I told him that too often I would find myself lying awake at night with my hand between my legs, wishing it was him making me moan helplessly into my pillow.

Still, Fitz is, above all, my closest friend.

“Well, Fitz, sometimes I get… aroused… by my daydreams…”, I began, not meeting his grey-eyed gaze.

“So ye’ fantasize?”, he asked in a low voice.

“Yes, I do…”, I murmured, shuddering at his husky tone as I tried to keep myself from imagining how it would feel to jump his bones and shag his brains out.

“About what?”, Fitz murmured, brushing his fingers down the sleeve of my lab coat, making it feel like he was burning right through the material and branding my skin, which was already super sensitized due to the tone of voice he was using.

  I spun around and forced myself to look straight into his eyes, which had now darkened to a deeper shade of stormy grey.

“You and I.”

The look on his face showed me the internal battle raging inside of him between decency and the more primal side that everyone possesses.

“Wha’ am I doin’ ta’ ye’ in these fantasies o’ yers?”, he asked, his Scottish accent bringing out the tone of desire in his voice.

Suddenly I felt like I was _living_ in one of my fantasies. 

 “All kinds of intimate things.”

Fitz stepped closer and lowered his eyelids before murmuring in a highly aroused voice,

“D’ye eventually want me ta’ do somethin’ like that ta’ ye’?”

“Why not?”, I whispered before Fitz pressed his lips to mine and kissed me slowly yet intensely.

I moaned as he pulled me against his body and gently bit my lower lip.

The fire inside of my body was beginning to blaze out of control.

Never in all my nine years of knowing him, did I imagine that I could surrender to desire after just one kiss.

He walked me into the edge of  a desk, and I ended up bumping into it harder than I thought.

We broke apart quickly a half second later when I heard the sound of glass breaking and felt something wet on my back.

I turned and gasped in horror as I noticed my test tube holder on the floor with all the test tubes broken and the chemicals mixing together then Fitz ripped my lab coat off.

“Jemma, one o’ tha’ beakers spilled down yer’ back!”, he yelped and I swore when I saw that, not only were the chemicals from my test tubes mixing on the floor, but that they had splattered on both of us.

 “Fitz! These chemicals could produce lethal fumes when mixed, ”, I cried, punching the lockdown button and turning on the exhaust fans, “and we got them on ourselves!”

We exchanged no words but ran straight into the back room of the lab where the emergency shower was, sealing the main lab room off so that the exhaust fans could take the fumes out.

Whoever designed this plane failed to realize that there may be a need for more than one shower and also a need for a separation or divider of sorts.

“You first Fitz.”, I said, turning my back to him.

“Ye’ got tha’ chemicals all down yer back Jemma, ye’ should go firs’!”, Fitz said, “In any case, both o’ us got them on ourselves an’ there’s only one shower here, damn tha’ bloody designer ta’ hell for it!!”, he swore, motioning towards the single stall.

“Fine then, we go at the same time!”, I said, more concerned for our health than our feelings about seeing each other naked.

To show that I meant business, I pulled out my phone and ID badge, took off my watch, and pulled the rubber band out of my hair, placing the items on a table outside the shower. I stepped in and pulled the handle, starting the flow of lukewarm water while my clothes were still on (as we were supposed to do).

“Come on Fitz, before you get a chemical burn!”, I said, starting to take off my wet clothes and tossing them into a plastic bin outside the shower.

Fitz followed me in after depositing his phone, watch, and wallet next to mine and began to undress too.

I turned away and took off my bra and slipped out of my remaining articles of clothing as I rinsed down and soaped up my hair.

I saw Fitz’s trousers get tossed and then his boxer shorts with smiley faces on it followed.

“Jemma, could ye’ pass me tha soap?”, Fitz asked and I glanced over my shoulder at him to find him glancing back at me.

  “Here you go.”, I said handing him the soap bottle with slippery hands.

“Thanks.”, he replied, taking the bottle.

“Jemma?”, he asked as I soaped up my body with the remaining lather from my hair.

“What is it Fitz?”, I asked.

“Would it be too strange if I told ye’ that ye’ are a very beautiful woman?”, he asked.

I blushed and smiled.

“No, not at all. Would it be strange if I told you that you are a very handsome man?”

“Not a bit.”

I tried to reach to lather my back but frowned when I found that I couldn’t.

This was bad, especially since the chemicals got on my back.

_If only I had my back scrubber…_

“Uh Fitz, this may sound like an odd request to make, especially under these circumstances, but could you wash my back? I can’t reach on my own…”, I asked, slightly embarrassed, mainly because I had a small tattoo on my right shoulder blade that was sentimental in many ways.

“Uh, no problem…”, Fitz replied as I glanced over my shoulder at him, purposefully covering my tattoo with my wet hair.

He turned around and his eyes got wide, sweeping up and down my body.

I didn’t feel self-conscious at all when his eyes lingered on my bum because I expected him to look there, instead I felt a wave of heat pool in my abdomen.

In one of my more sexual fantasies, I imagined what it would be like to have Fitz take me in the shower and the way he was looking at me right now was getting me aroused.

“See something you like Fitz?”, I asked with a smirk.

* * *

**Fitz POV**

My mind blanked temporarily as I heard those words come out of Jemma’s mouth.

Of course I liked what I saw, she was perfect in my eyes.

Her body was better than I had imagined and I wanted to have this image of her branded into my memory.

 I never knew that she was this curvy under all the clothes she wore, nor did I know that her creamy pale skin was flawless and it didn’t matter if she was wearing clothes or not, I’d always found myself staring at her bum.   

I felt myself getting hard just looking at her and I hoped that she wouldn’t notice it.

“You’re beautiful.”, I murmured.

 She blushed and moved her hair off of her back as I put soap in my hands to wash her off.

I looked at her again and saw a tattoo on her right shoulder blade.

“When did you get this?”, I asked as I placed my hands on her shoulders and began to work up a  lather.

“My tattoo?”

“Yeah.”, I replied, tracing it with my finger.

"I got that the summer before I left Sheffield for the states and the Academy... I wanted to do five rebellious things before I went off on my own... one of them was to get a tattoo..." 

It was a small heart shaped outline in black ink made up of really fancy looking lettering. The letters made up the names of everyone in her immediate family.

“It’s the names of my family members.”, she replied, “But I plan on adding more borders to it if I should marry at all in my lifetime.”

My hands drifted down her back, and I was amazed at how soft and warm her skin was.

"What were the other four rebellious things?", I asked, having gone through my own rebellious phase shortly before leaving Glasgow, but it was harder to be rebellious in a smallish  country town than it was when you lived in one of the biggest cities in the United Kingdom.

"Oh, I snuck out, got drunk, went to a pretty wild knees up, and lost my virginity... I was still seeing Justin then... I haven't spoken to him since he broke up with me.", she replied as she started working conditioner into her hair.

My hands drifted to just above her waist.

“Do you want me to stop?”, I asked.

“Well I suppose so… I mean, you are done, right?”

“Yeah.”, I replied, not wanting to take my hands off of her.

“Then you can stop.”, she replied.

I trailed a finger up her spine and she shivered, emitting a soft moan that sent a shock of pleasure straight to my dick.

She looked at me over her shoulder and the first thing I noticed was that her light brown eyes had darkened to a rich chocolate, then I noticed how she was biting her lower lip and blushing.

My fingertips lingered at the place where her neck and spine met and I wondered how she would  react to me running my fingers down her spine.

So I brushed my fingers down her spine again and I wasn’t disappointed with the results.

She quivered and her eyes closed as she moaned again, only this time she moaned my name.

“Leo…”

She opened her eyes and smiled at me.

She was too damn gorgeous, and, in some small part of my brain, I knew that I couldn’t give in to desire and show her how much I needed to feel her body pressed against mine.

“Jemma, you’re so beautiful.”, I murmured, “You have no idea how much you drive me crazy.”

“I think I’ve got a pretty good idea…”, she whispered in reply before rinsing the conditioner out of her hair.

I turned away from her and tried to think of terrible things to make my hard-on go away.

 I gasped when a petite finger slid down my spine.

“Jemma, I don’t think that’s such a great idea…”, I muttered.

Then I felt her delicate hands on my back, soaping it up.

“You got my back, now I’ll get yours…”, she said, her proper accent now full of desire.

She rinsed off my back and then I gritted my teeth as I felt her soft lips on my back, kissing along a lonely scar I had from the time when I fell down the steps at Sci-Ops.

Then it took all of my willpower to keep myself from turning around when I felt her breasts pressing into my back.

“Jemma... do you want me to do something I’ll regret?”, I asked as the thought of running my hands over her naked body flashed through my mind.

“Leo, you can show me how you feel, just as long as we don’t actually do it in here…”, she said

“Don’t you want to take it slower?”, I asked, really not wanting to take it slow, just doing the right thing and asking her permission before I did something that may or may not ruin our whole friendship.

“I’ve had these feelings for you since the Academy… If you were in my position and knew how many times I’ve brought myself off  and wished it was you doing it, then you wouldn’t hesitate either. If you feel that it’s too soon for you, I’ll understand and I’ll happily wait.”, she said.

I felt the same way and a calm fell over me as I realized she wanted this, that she wanted _me_.

“Can I-”, I began, but she finished my sentence for me.

“Turn around? Of course…”, she murmured.

I turned around and gazed into her eyes before looking at her body.

All my fantasies and magazines were nothing compared to her true beauty, in fact, the only thing about Jemma that was the same in both my imagination and reality was that she didn't have any tan lines. 

She had curves in all the right places, her breasts were the perfect size, and her pale skin was just as flawless on the front of her body as the skin on her back was.

“Jemma, you’re beautiful…”, I murmured, making her blush.

I crushed my lips to hers and tumbled headlong into a rush of penned up emotion.

Her hands were running over my chest and I delicately brushed my calloused fingertips down the side of her perfect  body, fearing that I would hurt her if I was too rough.

I kissed down the smooth column of her neck, mapping every elegant contour, memorizing every centimeter, committing the way she whimpered softly to memory.

I mouthed the sensitive place where her neck and shoulders met, wanting to mark her skin, to claim her as my own and I relished the way she threaded her delicate fingers through my hair.

I brushed my fingertips slowly over her breasts and smiled when she gasped as her nipples hardened under my caress.

“Leo…”, she keened in a voice so sinfully perfect that I nearly came just from hearing it.

 She gripped my hair, tugging just enough to make me groan.

“Yes Jemma?”, I replied in a low voice, skimming my lips up her neck again until I felt her brush her smooth lips over mine.

She trailed a finger down my chest and I inhaled when she turned around and pressed her perfect backside into my hard on, grinding on it. I gripped her hips so hard that I probably bruised her.

It was my turn to moan her name (and I did) before nipping her shoulder a little, most likely leaving teeth marks in her silky flesh.

“You can touch me…”, she moaned in consent before turning around, running her tongue along my lower lip, and rubbing my calf with her foot.

And I was close to doing just that when the water turned from hot to lukewarm to frigid in a matter of seconds.

My hard-on went soft in record time and the moment was ruined as we both yelped and stumbled out of the now icy cold shower.

Well, at least we got clean.

Jemma grabbed some towels and two robes as I shut off the shower.

I turned around to find her wrapping a towel around her chest and I dried off, wrapping my towel around my waist.

“So… Jemma…”, I began awkwardly, not sure what to say now that we had been in a truly intimate situation.

She glanced at me, blushing furiously before stating,

“Well… _that_ happened…”

I nodded as she squeezed the water out of her hair in a towel.

“What now?”, I asked.

“Well...I suppose we wait…”, she replied, looking through the glass door into the lab.

I stood next to her and looked into the lab.

It was still in lockdown and I smiled when she gasped.

“Leo, did you build those?”, she asked, pointing into the lab at my little ‘Clean-Up’ robots that were programmed to sense out chemical spills, broken glass, and other incidents like that before cleaning up the mess, disposing of the chemical waste properly, and testing the air quality for hazardous fumes and debris. I had them on little charging stations around the lab and set them up so that they would boot up when the emergency lockdown button was pressed and begin working a minute later.

“Yeah, I did.”, I replied as she stared at them in wonder.

“I’ve never seen them before, were they always in there?”, she asked, gazing at me.

“Well, I designed them so that their charging docks were under the lab tables and workbenches, out of sight and out of the way until they were activated. I built them years ago and they’ve been in every lab we’ve ever worked in together since Sci-Ops.”, I replied, “In all honesty, I designed them for you… to keep you safe if something like this ever happened.”

“Why didn’t they come out when I was infected with that alien virus?”, she asked.

“They only activate when the lockdown button is pressed. When you were infected, we had you in quarantine, not in lockdown, but they were on standby.”

One of the robots zoomed over to the door where we were and projected the air quality and the estimated time of cleanup completion for us.

The air quality was almost back in the safe zone, but we would have to wait a few more minutes until cleanup was done.

“Should we try that again sometime?”, I asked as I slipped into a robe.       

She blushed and replied,

“Absolutely.”

I crossed the room and wrapped my arms around her and we sank to the floor together.

I held her until the cleanup robot projected an all clear status and zoomed under my workbench until it was needed again.

Jemma stood up and put her watch, phone, and ID badge into the pocket of her robe and pulled on a pair of sandals before leaving the decontamination room. I followed closely and we walked right through the lab and up the steps to the main level of the BUS.

We didn’t even make it to our bunks when Agent Coulson approached us with Skye and Ward.

“FitzSimmons, I trust the situation in the lab has been taken care of?”

“It has, Sir.”, Jemma replied.

“Good. We need to compile an email with a list of items and send it to the Manila base that way we can have everything for the Paris mission before we’re even there. Your cover descriptions have been received. Have you figured out which of you will play the part of the married or engaged couple?”, he asked.

We hadn’t discussed it yet.

I looked at Jemma who shook her head.

“No, we haven’t.”, Skye replied.

“Well who wants to?”, Coulson asked.

Jemma piped up.

“I think that Agent Ward and Skye would be the best choice because they could pretend to have an argument about wedding colors or Ward’s mother being too judgmental around the hosts and then excuse themselves to continue having their argument in a more private place, when really they would be going to snoop around and see what they could find out about the Noir’s involvement with Centipede. They’ve been trained for this sort of fieldwork, Fitz and I haven’t.”

Skye nodded at Jemma.

“That’s not a bad idea… it could work, I’m okay with being the fiancée or the young wife. What do you think Grant?”

“It sounds like a great plan. I’m with you on this.”, he replied.

“Good, then its settled, Ward and Skye will be playing the parts of either Mr. Robert and Mrs. Emily Calvert, the married couple from Los Angeles or Mr. Nicholas Jones and Miss Veronica Ford, the engaged couple from Washington D.C..”, Coulson said as he handed two folders to Skye and Ward before turning to Jemma and I.

“As for you two, you will be playing the parts of Mr. Cody Barclay from Scotland and Miss Lydia Fredericks from London.”, he said, handing us our folders.

I finally spoke up.

“Um, Agent Coulson? Do you expect me to wear the Barclay colors?”, I asked.

“You want to sell the act, right?”, Coulson asked in reply.

“Well yeah.”

“Then we’ll need your measurements to have the kilt made.”, he replied before adding, “I know that it means a lot if you were to put on another clan’s colors, but you can do this.”

I nodded, putting the topic to rest as a part of my conscience called me a traitor.

“Simmons? Skye? We need to get some options and measurements from you that way we can have your gowns bought and tailored for you when we land in Manila. We also need to order some shoes for you.”

The two women nodded as Coulson walked away.

Skye and Ward went off in their own direction and I went to my bunk to get changed.

 Just before I went into my bunk, Jemma stopped me.

“Wait, Leo…”

I turned around.

“Yes Jemma?”

She kissed me softly now and I felt her smile through it before she nipped my lower lip playfully and pulled away.

“Jemma Simmons, you’re a tease.”, I said with a smile.

She winked at me.

“You know you like it.”, she smirked before walking away, putting an extra bit of sway in her hips.

As I closed my door, an emotional weight fell on me and only one word described the weight that turned my usually logic only brain into a swirl of God-knows-what.

God-knows-what that felt so much like every good thing in the world rolled in with a tense feeling of fear.

_This is what love feels like._

Realization dawned on me.

_I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with Jemma Simmons._

I quickly got dressed and emerged from my room to find Ward, Skye, and Simmons waiting in the lounge.

“Fitz, we’re going to learn how to dance.”, Simmons said, “Ward’s teaching us how, let’s go.”

I followed behind them, dying to tell Jemma Simmons that I was in love with her, but knowing that this was neither the time nor the place to do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	4. First Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye has her first dance lesson with Grant.  
> The BUS needs a tune-up, so the team will be staying in a hotel.  
> Skye does some reflecting on her painful past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 1000 views!! Thank you all so much!!!  
> I don't own Marvel or any of the characters.

**Skye POV**

I sat on the bottom step in the cargo/garage area, waiting for the dance lesson to start, tapping my  high heels on the floor.

I looked into the lab and saw Fitz tinkering away at some tool while Simmons (who was also wearing a pair of high heels, but I could tell that she absolutely hated them) chattered on about some complex form of science.

There was something different about the way they looked at each other but I just brushed it off and figured that they were just practicing being Cody Barclay and Lydia Fredericks.

Grant and I had decided to be Nicolas ‘Nick’ Jones and Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Ford, the engaged couple, and that meant I had to wear an engagement ring.

Coulson had a ring on board for such occasions and the ring was the prettiest and most expensive piece of jewelry that I had ever worn.   

Grant had gone off in search of the portable speakers (there was an iHome in the lab but Fitz was currently using it as a charging station for his iPhone).

I gazed at the ring that Grant had pressed awkwardly into my palm with a mumbled, “Here you go…”.

Some part of me wondered if he was as scared of messing up our partnership with this whole romance thing as I was.

I didn’t read through the whole SHIELD handbook and code of conduct, but I’m pretty sure that there is something in there which banned fraternization between rookies and their SO’s… If that was the case then Grant and I could be separated.

I pushed the thought of being separated from Grant out of my mind as I tapped my heels on the floor, not knowing whether I should be nervous or comforted by the prospect of being taught how to dance by Grant.

It was my first official dance lesson since the dance unit I was forced to do in my high school gym class.

That was one of the last classes I attended before I dropped out and focused on hacking and working part time so I could afford to keep my van.

 Those were some hard times.

Looking back on my decision to drop out, I found myself wishing that I hadn’t.

When I turned 17 and dropped out of school, I saved all of my records onto a flash drive and then wiped every trace of my very existence from every database, including the foster care system. I just couldn’t take being bounced around from one foster home to another.

 I gave up on making friends when I was in middle school because I would just end up moving to another foster home in a few months and leaving them behind. I was always alone and I grew up believing that there was nobody in this whole world who could possibly love me because none of the countless foster parents I had ever wanted me to stay.

Just thinking about those years made me sad because, no matter how many times I told myself that SHIELD had been the ones protecting me since I was an infant, I still couldn’t shake off the little voice in my head telling me that I wasn’t good enough and that nobody would ever love me.  

Grant walked past me on the stairs and set up his phone and the portable speakers.

I felt hot tears threatening to spill over and I looked at my feet so that nobody would see me getting misty-eyed.

I felt Grant’s hand on my shoulder and then he sat down next to me on the step.

“Skye, are you okay?”, he asked in a voice so soft it actually surprised me.

I looked up and found him gazing at me with a look of concern.

My vision blurred as my tears welled up and I closed my eyes, trying to make the tears go away but I cursed internally when the tears rolled down my cheeks instead.

I looked away and squeezed my eyelids shut, my pride significantly bruised now that Grant had seen me cry.

Instead of pulling away like I expected him to do, I felt him place his hands on mine and give them a small squeeze.

“What’s  wrong?”, he asked.

I didn’t want to tell him my pathetic story or that I thought that I would never be loved, but those things had been with me forever.

“It’s nothing.”, I mumbled, shaking my head.

“Skye, it isn’t ‘nothing’… I can tell that you’re upset… what’s bothering you?”, he replied.

I didn’t look at him as I mumbled,

“My childhood was terrible and those memories come back to haunt me sometimes.”

“I know the feeling all too well.”

It took me a second to recall that Grant hadn’t had the perfect childhood either.

Ever since the Berserker Staff incident, he would occasionally have nightmares and, since I would be awake anyway, I would hear him talking in his sleep about a well and having to save his little brother from his older abusive brother.

He had some issues too.

“I’ll tell you about my bad childhood if you tell me about yours.”, I said.

I would rather not be the only one spilling their guts about feelings and I’m sure that it was high time for Grant to get the weight of his memories off his chest.

“Deal. You first though.”, he said, and I finally looked up at him.

“As a small child, I lived in St. Agnes’s orphanage, when I started first grade, I entered the foster care system and remained in the system through my formative years. I never stayed in a foster home for more than a few weeks, my longest time in a home was two months when I was in the fourth grade and I loved it there.”, I paused and bit back my tears.

“Was that the Brody family that you stayed with when you were nine?”, Grant asked.

I shook my head.

“No. They were the family after the Brody’s, the Dalton family, and they were good people. I had friends at school, they had an older daughter named Rachael who was adopted… I looked up to her as an older sister, and they had a dog too. I thought it would be my forever home just like it was for  Rachael, but then they told me I was going to be sent to another home and that things weren’t working out. I was devastated. After that, I grew to believe that nobody would ever love me and that nobody cared. I had hope that my parents were still alive somewhere but that was about it. I became distanced from the other kids my age and I turned to technology as a way to fill the void. Technology would always be the same when everything else was changing, all I needed was a floppy disk or a flash drive and I could take my hobby with me... it was a much-needed constant, especially when I didn’t know where I would be in a few weeks… Nobody knew what happened to my parents and I wanted to learn the truth. I got tired of being bounced around in the system, so I dropped out of high school, deleted all my records, and started over as a hacktivist for the Rising Tide. Then you and Coulson found me and, well, here I am. I know the truth about my past and it scares me…”, I said.

“You said that you grew to believe that nobody would ever love you and that nobody cared… thinking like that always comes with some heavy negative emotional weight, but to grow up believing that? I don’t think I could have ever been able to carry on if I had that on my mind…”, Grant said.

“So what about your bad childhood?”, I asked.

“Well, I grew up in mainly Massachusetts as the middle child. My mom died giving birth to Edmund,  my little brother, and I think that’s why my older brother hated him so much, even if he did beat the crap out of us for no apparent reason. My dad tried drinking my mom’s memory away and died of alcohol poisoning. My brothers and I went to live with my grandmother, or Gramsy, as I called her. Maynard, my older brother, would beat Edmund  and I when he was angry, but he would hurt Edmund more than me. Maynard forced me to hurt Edmund and  I would do whatever he said, not wanting to be on the receiving end of his abuse. Maynard made me throw Edmund into a well once. Edmund couldn’t swim and was going into shock. I went to toss him the rope but Maynard told me not to save him unless I wanted to get thrown in too.”, Grant paused and his hand tightened around mine before he continued, “That was the first time I ever hated  Maynard with my whole being… I saved Edmund anyway and then I took up self-defense to protect Edmund from Maynard. When I joined SHIELD, I lost contact with Maynard but I stayed in touch with Gramsy. I haven’t seen  Edmund in ages, but every now and then I’ll get a call or a letter from him.”

His story was sad and I felt really sorry for him.

“I’m sorry that I asked…”, I mumbled as a stray tear rolled down my cheek.

I went to wipe it away but Grant reached up and brushed it away instead, his hand lingering for a second on my cheek and leaving a warm spot when he pulled it away. I didn’t want him to let go.

“It’s fine… I feel worse about asking you what was wrong though... I mean, even if I knew that my parents were dead, I still knew that Gramsy loved all three of us boys, even Maynard when he was being a bully. I always knew that at least one person loved me.”

We sat there in silence for what seemed like an eternity, even if it was only two minutes, until FitzSimmons emerged from the lab.

“So I guess we should get started?”, I asked, standing up and walking into the open space.

“Yeah. Before we get started though, are you able to move?”, Grant asked Simmons and I.

I nodded, completely comfortable in my high heels.

“I think I’ll be fine… I just need to get used to these.”, Simmons replied, wobbling a little as the words left her mouth.

“Alright, just take it easy, we don’t want to get May upset if we have to send her in your place because you rolled your ankle.”, Grant replied.

The biochemist nodded silently.

“Alright then. I suppose I should ask if any of you know how to dance already...”, he trailed off, "Nobody? Okay then, I’ll show you the box step first, this is the most basic part of any partner dance. Skye, can you help me out here?”

I walked over to him and he showed me where to step as FitzSimmons tried to get it right by observing us.

I focused on getting the steps yet I still messed up time and time again.

Grant was patient with me though.

“Okay, Skye, you do the opposite of what I do. When my left foot goes forward, your right foot goes back. When I move to my left, you move to your right. You have the hold right. Try it again.”

I tried it again and got it right.

Soon I could do the box step while traveling and then waltz with music.

FitzSimmons were waltzing perfectly with each other, and I swear that they are in a perpetual state of synchronization.

“Good work.” , Coulson said, standing at the top of the steps, causing us to push away from each other abruptly. “I need to see Simmons and Skye up here, we need a selection of gowns to order. I also did some digging on the Noirs. Both Noirs enjoy the tango, so definitely perfect that so that you can sweep them away with your skills. It’ll be a great conversation piece, especially when used as a distraction. Fitz, I still need your measurements, we can’t order the Barclay tartan and then have the kilt made, but we can get a black and gray formal premade kilt and then just have the clan emblem on the pin and the sporran. Ward, your all black suit is on base and it has been dry cleaned.”

I followed Simmons up to the command center just as May came out of the kitchenette with a sandwich, stopping us for a second.

“Here are some things to consider when making your choices. Gowns with bigger skirts are great places to hide weapons, just don’t make them too big. No neon colors, if something goes wrong and you have to run, neon colors will turn you into an easy target but black is a little too conspicuous, try some solid reds or blues  with some glittery accents or even put some colored accents on black just so you seem normal. Since there will be two couples on this mission, I suggest that one of you wears a dress that’s good for moving in, preferably with straps and a slit. And stay with your partner at all times. Do not split up, that makes you easier to get rid of. If you have to use the toilet, go with the other lady.”, she said before walking away.

We went into the command center and gathered around the holotable.

“Now, do you have any ideas in mind?”, Coulson asked.

Simmons spoke up.

“Since Skye and Ward will be doing most of the heavier lifting behind the scenes, maybe Fitz and I should be the distractions. Not many men wear kilts, so that’s a distraction, and maybe a tighter gown with a slit would be nice, so that I can dance or even run if something should go wrong.”

“Color?”

“Hmm burgundy sounds nice, red is a good color on me, if I do say so myself… Agent May said that dark reds were good.”, she replied with a slight shrug.

I waited patiently as Simmons found her dress and then it was my turn.

“Skye?”, Coulson asked, “What about you?”.

I searched in silence, taking what May had said to heart, soon finding an adequate gown.

“Alright then, your gowns will be ready when we refuel again in Dubai. We have a few more refueling stops to make before we get to Paris.”, Coulson checked his watch, “We land in Manila in an hour so get ready to disembark... we won’t be staying on base as planned, we’ll be in a hotel while the BUS gets a tune up, pack your bags.”

We nodded and left the command center.

“I’ll  tell Fitz and Ward about the change of plans…”, Simmons said cheerily as we went our separate ways at the bunks.

I closed the door behind myself and threw some things into an overnight bag.

I opened up my bedside table drawer and pulled out the small bag that my vibrator was in.

 I couldn’t help but let a wave of excitement pass through my veins as I held it, imagining how it would feel inside of me.

I closed my eyes and let myself drift in a fantasy, suddenly wondering how it would feel if Grant used my vibrator on me.

_It was dark and I was all alone._

_I was dressed in nothing but a black bra and panty set as I stood in the bedroom of my hotel room._

_I slipped the vibrator between my legs and pressed the tip to the front of my panties._

_I felt him come up behind me and pull the toy from my hand, his voice at no more than a possessive growl as he murmured,_

_“You should pay closer attention to your surroundings Skye and always shut your door tight… a move like keeping your door ajar could get you killed…”_

_He practically ripped my panties off and I moaned as he pushed the vibrator to my clit._

_“…Or compromised…”, he muttered._

_My fingers threaded through his hair as he mouthed at my neck…biting me a little as I whimpered his name._

_“Grant… don’t tease me…you know how badly I want you…”_

_“It isn’t teasing if I intend to take you up on that offer…”, he growled, picking me up and placing me on my bed._

I was so close to slipping my hand  into my jeans when Grant knocked on my door.

“Uh, Skye, can I come in? We need to talk…”

I scrambled to put my vibrator in my overnight bag, tossing it in haphazardly.

“Yeah, come in.”, I replied.

* * *

**Ward POV**

I entered Skye’s bunk and noticed that she had a very guilty look on her face.

I had to talk to her about some of the obstacles we would probably encounter on the mission and how we would work together to overcome said obstacles.

“Hey Grant.”, she mumbled, not meeting my stare.

“Was I interrupting something?”, I asked, nodding towards her overnight bag.

The conversation could wait until we had landed, it wasn’t eminent.

“Well, no…not really…”, she began and then I heard it.

A faint buzzing sound reached my ears and I racked my brain to give a name to the mystery sound.

“Skye… do you hear that?”, I asked, stepping further into her bunk, trying to find the source of the noise.

“Grant… what are you—oh my God…”, she began and then her face relaxed and her eyes widened in horror.

I saw her face pale and then turn beet red in a matter of seconds.

“So you hear it too?”, I asked.

“Yeah. Ward, I can explain…”, she began as I went to her overnight bag and pulled out  small black bag on the top of the pile within.

"I just tossed it in there... something probably hit the on/off button..."

I felt whatever it was vibrating and then I threw it down with a muffled yelp.

 She had a vibrator on board and it was turned on in the bag.

_Oh God, what if I had just interrupted her personal time?_

“Skye, I am so, soooo sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt—I mean… well, um, that is if you _were_ … well, you know…. _using it…._ ”, I became a flustered, babbling, awkward mess.

Skye closed the door to her bunk and reached in the small bag, turning off the slender black instrument.

“Grant, calm down.”, she said.

“Okay.”, I sighed and sat on her bed. “I just have a few questions.”

She looked extremely embarrassed but sat next to me anyway.

“What do you want to know?”

“Were you in the middle of getting yourself off?”, I asked, noticing how her pupils were blown wide and how she was still holding the vibrator in its bag.

“No, but I was having a few thoughts…”, she replied.

"About?"

“Well, uh, you… using it on me.”, Skye mumbled, motioning to the vibrator in her hand.

I don’t know what surged through me at that point but I just felt like kissing her and showing her exactly what I would do to her with that vibrator.

I had guilt weighing on my conscience because I would lust after her while wanting to be more than just friends with benefits.

 I wanted to be that guy that she could go to for anything and after hearing her full story, how she thought she didn’t deserve to be loved, I just wanted to hold her and tell her that she does deserve to be loved.

I wanted to prove to her that she was  loved in any way I could, and maybe, _just maybe_ , kissing her right now would be the start of all that.

All of my self-doubt suddenly faded away.

I felt myself reaching out to her and I saw her reaching back as time seemed to slow down.

 I felt her slender fingers curl around my biceps and I drowned in the twin pools of warm brown that were her eyes.

She bit her lower lip in her habitual way… I swear, that little bite would be my undoing… just the way her lip would bloom with color after she released it from between her perfect white teeth  drove me crazy… it was one of the first things I noticed about her when Coulson and I practically abducted her and it was one of the things about her that would never cease to make my heart race.

“Grant…”, she whispered as I placed my hands on her waist, her eyes never leaving mine.  

“May I?”, I whispered as we got closer, breathing in the heady scent of her jasmine and lavender shampoo that was mingled with the spicy scent of her arousal.

She nodded and closed her eyes.

I closed my eyes and was lost in darkness, closing the gap until I felt the soft brush of her lips on mine, gentle, warm, and sweet.

She was like heaven and I felt myself pulling her closer.

She pulled away and blushed.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that…”, I muttered, the heavy guilt falling upon my shoulders again.

 _“Way to go, now she’ll be requesting a new SO and filing a sexual harassment/assault case against me… I’ll be put to work behind a desk as a pencil-pusher, never to go into the field again…”_ , I thought to myself as I got up to leave her bunk.

“Wait, Grant…”, Skye began and I turned around.

She crashed her lips into mine and pushed her slender frame into my body, pushing me back with surprising force.

I found myself kissing her back, letting her steer me into the side of her bed before taking me down so I was laying on her bed.

Then she got on top of me and straddled my waist.

I was surprised but I wasn’t complaining either, rather groaning when I felt myself hardening beneath her.

She moaned when she felt my hardened member against her, choosing to grind her pelvis into it.

I gripped her hips and she broke the kiss long enough to breathe before placing a trail of feather light kisses down my jaw and pressing her lips to my Adam’s apple.

I groaned as she bit my neck gently, mixing a tiny bit of pain in with the pleasure I was feeling.

“Skye….”

 _“What are you doing Grant? **You** should be romancing **her**! Not the other way around… she wants to play a little dirty? Put the ball in her court and play dirty back.”,_ my conscience yelled from the part of my brain that was still working.

I flipped her over and she gasped as I bared my teeth on her pulse point, feeling her heartbeat accelerate.

She pushed her hips up into my hard-on and I ran my fingers through her hair.

I stared into her eyes and something shifted in the both of us in that instant.

No words were spoken, but I knew that we were thinking along the same lines for once.

She gave me a slight nod and I kissed her softly before pulling back to look her in her deep brown eyes again.

I had never fallen head-over-heels for a woman before, but there was a certain sadness, a complex loneliness, and an insatiable hunger for understanding in her eyes that made me love her.

I pushed my hips into hers, kissing her slowly with all of the passion I could muster, hearing her whimper softly as I began to set a steady pace with my hips, grinding them into her pelvis through our clothes. She moaned my name as she wrapped her legs around my waist.

_“Grant…”_

I placed my forehead against hers, and she closed her eyes.

I was about to let the words, “I love you.”, roll off my tongue when May came over the intercom.

“Please fasten your seatbelts, we begin our descent into Manila in three.”, she said calmly.

Skye blushed at me as I got off of her and adjusted my clothes and hair.

“Sorry I dry humped you like some horny teenager and gave you _that_ …”, she muttered, motioning towards the rod in my pants.

   “It’s no problem…I’ll just let it go away on its own…”, I mumbled, now ashamed because of the way I _manhandled_ her. "I'm sorry I was so rough..."

"I'm fine... No harm, no foul, no bruises...", she replied, casting a smirk in my direction. “Oh, I almost forgot… you wanted to talk to me about something…”, she said, fixing her hair.

“Yeah…”, I said, but then realized that I forgot what I had to tell her.

Our impromptu makeout session had temporarily obliterated my strategic thought process.

“Did you forget?”, she asked as she put her vibrator into her overnight bag and zipped it up.

“Well…”, I began, and then remembered what I had to say, “I wanted to tell you about some of the things we may encounter on the mission.”

“Like obstacles?”, she asked.

“Exactly.”, I replied.

Skye opened up the door to her bunk and looked around.

FitzSimmons could be heard talking in the kitchenette and Coulson was doing something in his bunk with his back turned, no doubt packing an overnight bag, so nobody saw or heard Skye and I emerging from her bunk.

“Beginning descent in one.”, May said and the seatbelt light came on.

Everyone went into the lounge area and strapped into their seats. I took the window seat and Skye sat facing me.

“So what types of obstacles will we face?”, she asked.

“There will be guards all over the place, our backstories have to be perfect, and making a smooth getaway is always the hardest part of any mission… you saw firsthand what type of problems can happen when there’s no extraction plan.”, I replied, recalling the Ossetia mission.

She nodded.

“Grant? What do we do if we get split up?”, Skye asked.

“If people are pursuing you, run into the nearest crowd of people to lose your attackers and then make your way to the rendezvous point… if you’re cornered, stand your ground and don’t give or tell your attackers anything. All of us will be wearing trackers and coms, so someone will come to you. The dresses will have bulletproof panels put into the torso pieces, so you have some degree of  protection in your favor.”, I replied.

Skye looked over at where Coulson and FitzSimmons were sitting.

Coulson was playing Flappy Bird on his phone and FitzSimmons were watching tango tutorial videos on a tablet. All of them had ear buds in and were distracted.

She lowered her voice as we lost altitude and I could see the worry behind her eyes.

“What if I mess up?”, she asked, “I don’t want to be a disappointment…”

I reached across the table to where her hand rested and placed my hand over her smaller one.

“You won’t be a disappointment. I’ve seen what you can do, trust me, you’ve come a long way from being the pseudo-anarchist hacker you once were…”, I replied.

“I know I’ve changed, but I always wonder if the decision I made when I joined SHIELD will be worth giving up any chance of leading a somewhat normal life, you know, the dream house in the suburbs with the white picket fence, settling down and raising kids of my own... I wonder if I’ll ever be a great agent like you or May or Coulson someday, because living the life of an agent is tough work… you can't be the family type...”, she said, wistfully looking out of the window as we gently dropped out of the clouds.

“You’ll be a great agent one day, trust me…Yes, it will take years of hard work and dedication to become the superior agent you want to be, but I believe that, one day, you’ll have a rookie of your own and I’ll be more than your SO, I’ll be a friend and a colleague…”, I replied, secretly hoping that someday she would be much more than just my rookie, friend, and colleague.

I heard her mutter,

“Yeah but I’ll never be more than that…”

I brushed my thumb over the back of her hand and murmured exactly what I was thinking at that moment.

“But I do want you to be more than that…”

She looked at me with a blank expression.

“What did you say?”

I stared right into her beautiful brown doe eyes when I took a deep breath and braced myself.

“Skye, I _do_ want you to be more than just my friend, rookie, and colleague…”, I asked, making sure that Coulson and FitzSimmons didn’t hear me. "I want to give this relationship a try because we agents can't always get the dream house but nobody ever told us we couldn't try.", I glanced at her again, "Do you want to try with me?"

My heart crawled into my throat as I waited on her response.

She beamed and her smile brightened the room again for what seemed like the first time in weeks. It was like seeing her genuine smile for the first time all over again.

“I'd like that very much.”, she replied, giving my hand a squeeze as the BUS touched down.

“Thank you for flying with SHIELD, and welcome to Manila.”, May said.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always welcome and subscribe for another hot FitzSimmons scenario in chapter 5!


	5. Horizontal Tango

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz and Simmons were supposed to learn how to tango....and they did, but this has nothing to do with dancing...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this has a lot of adult content, so read at your discretion.  
> I know that Valentine's Day has passed already, but a lot of stuff came up at school and work and I've been writing when I get the chance, I won't change the plot though and the team will still get Valentine's Day in Paris.  
> This chapter is extra long to make up for my sorry lack of updates.

**Fitz POV**

“Fitz, can you give me a hand with this?”, Jemma asked as she motioned towards her overnight ‘bag’.

“You know we’re only staying here for two days at most right?”, I asked with a smirk.

She sighed.

“I’m so sorry… I’m rubbish when it comes to packing light and it has all of my laundry in there, so it’s extra heavy… I’ll carry it...”

She went to pick up the bag but I stopped her.

“Allow me… you go get the DWARFs, I’ll take your bag.”

“Did you bring the tools so that we can work on them?”, she asked, retrieving the large box that housed our robots and their tablets.

I nodded as we piled into the short bus and left the base.

May drove while Coulson took shotgun, Ward and Skye sat in the middle row of seats, while Jemma and I sat in the very back.

As we drove, Coulson spoke to us.

“May, the BUS needs more than just a standard tune-up. It’s going to be inspected for safety and while that’s going on, the air filters will be replaced, the sewage tanks will be emptied, the water tanks will get refilled, the upholstery and carpets will get cleaned, the pantry and fridge will be restocked along with the cleaning supplies and toiletries.”

May nodded.

“Ward, the armory will be restocked with more ammunition.”

“Got it.”

“Skye, your new phone is waiting for you at the hotel and a few new apps were installed on your laptop.”

“Oh, cool… they aren’t SHIELD monitoring systems are they?”, she asked.

“No, they’re the apps for the SHIELD Handbook, the SHIELD Code of Conduct, and the SHIELD Encyclopedia. All of them are for you to study that way Agent Hand will stop complaining about me having someone on my team who doesn’t know the rules.”, Coulson replied. “It has a few systems to monitor activity, but I have a feeling that you’ll delete them, so I didn’t bother. Just leave the SHIELD-616 system on there because that’s the basic system. Without it, you wouldn’t be able to view the SHIELD apps.”

“Thanks AC.”

“No problem. FitzSimmons, the decontamination shower is going to be expanded. I’m having another set of shower fixtures, a divider, and two curtains installed so that you two don’t have to shower together if you have another lab accident. The dendrotoxin you ordered is on its way.”

I glanced sideways at Jemma who was blushing, no doubt remembering the passionate things we were doing to each other not even a mere twelve hours ago.

“Fitz, the premade kilts don’t come in your size, so we’ve ordered a suit for you. It’s simple, just plain black. Simmons bought a burgundy gown, so I suggest wearing your red dress shirt and borrowing a black tie from Ward or myself if you don’t have one already.”

I nodded at Coulson, who was looking at us through the rear-view mirror.

“And everyone’s mail is waiting for them at the hotel.”, Coulson finished as he put on a pair of dark sunglasses.

We rode in silence for the remainder of the trip, but all I could think about was the beautiful biochemist sitting beside me.

I stole a glance at her through my peripherals and saw her biting her lip while she toyed with a button on the cuff of her left sleeve.

She was deep in thought and I could see the wheels turning in her mind.

We arrived at the hotel a few minutes later and Jemma was still deep in thought.

I got out of the short bus and held the door for Jemma, who smiled at me.

We went in the lobby and over to the desk so we could get the keys for our reserved rooms.

We would all be in our own rooms on the same floor.

The hotel we were staying in was one of those five star places with all the amenities, a rather posh place in comparison to the other hotels we’ve stayed in while the BUS was being repaired.

We rode up to our floor together and went our separate ways, but before I went into my room, Jemma handed me the travel case for the DWARF robots and said,

“I sent a link to your phone for an exceptionally good tango tutorial that I wanted to try tomorrow.”

She went to leave but I put down my bags and caught her wrist in my hand.

I wanted to tell her how I felt about her. My heart was beating into overdrive and my mouth got dry.

“Jemma?”

She stared back at me with her intelligent brown eyes.

“Yes Leo?”

“I… I, uh… just wanted to say…”, I tried to tell her, but the words got caught in my throat.

“Leo, just tell me…”, she said softly.

“Well, okay… I just wanted to say that, uh, I… I can’t wait to work on the DWARF robots with you later.”, I blurted out, cursing myself inwardly as the words left my mouth.

She blinked a few times.

“Oh, okay then… I suppose I should get settled into my room first, maybe do a cycle of wash, and then I’ll come over at around half past five to work on the DWARF robots. Does that sound okay?”, she replied.

I released her wrist and nodded.

“That sounds like a plan, maybe we can have some dinner then too. Well, see you in an hour and a half…”, I said, hastily opening the door to my room and toting my things inside.

I saw Jemma retreating into her room across the hall and closed my door.

My room was spacious and I noticed a sizeable stack of mail on the desk by the window.

 _“Mum probably wrote me a thousand letters.”_ , I thought as I sat my bag down and crossed the room to see what I had.

Mum did write quite a few letters, but I would read them later.

I flipped through the science and technology magazines I received before coming across a few titles that made me raise my eyebrows.

A few pieces of Simmons’s mail ended up in my stack and I glanced at them in surprise. These were magazines that I didn’t think she read (save for the Sci-Ops Catalogue), much less subscribed to, because they were ‘misogynistic’ and ‘superficial’, but, sure enough, I found the newest issues of ‘Cosmopolitan’, ‘Vogue’, and ‘Elle’ in my pile of mail with her name in the addressee space.

I then came across the tell-tale black wrapping on the January/February double issue of Playboy Magazine.

I stood there, wondering if I should open it or just throw it out, I would terminate my subscription either way.

I shrugged and set it aside, still deciding whether or not to read it, in the meantime, I decided to unpack and do some laundry.

I glanced at my watch some time later and saw that it was four o’ clock on the dot.

I picked up the Playboy and sat down in the desk chair, drawing the window curtain shut before ripping the plastic off the magazine.

This issue was definitely appealing to me and I found myself getting hard as I read the article titles.

This was no ordinary Playboy with just some models in lingerie, this was different.

Instead of just having models in lingerie, they had models in the classic bunny suit as well as other uniforms. It was the 60th anniversary issue and they would be recreating poses from vintage issues.

I flipped through, working myself up, slipping my trousers and boxers around my ankles to get a better grip.

I stopped dead when I came across the one photo that almost made me lose control.

The model was naked except for a pair of lab goggles, high heeled shoes, and a pristine white lab coat. I imagined Jemma in this pose and grabbed a few tissues hastily as I got closer and closer.

I could’ve sworn I heard a faint gasp, but it was probably just in my imagination.

 _“Jemma…”_ , I groaned loudly, not giving a damn who heard me because I was too far gone.

Her moans from earlier were echoing in my head and I could’ve sworn I heard her saying my name I pushed myself over the edge and came.

“ _Jemma!!!”_

I panted as I slowly came back to reality.

There was a knock at the door and this time I definitely heard Jemma saying my name, only she was worried.

“Leo? Are you okay?”

I cursed as I hurriedly cleaned myself off, opened up the curtains, and went to put the magazine into my pile of mail, but in my discombobulated state, I knocked the stack off the desk instead, my Playboy and Jemma’s magazines included.

“Bloody hell…”, I muttered, picking up the stack of jumbled up mail and putting it all on the desk.

I glanced at the clock and it was 5:28.

For one fleeting moment, I positively abhorred Jemma’s constant punctuality.

“Leo, if you don’t answer me, I’m getting Ward to kick down this door!”

“Yeah, just hold on a sec, I’m coming…”, I replied, fixing my appearance and washing my hands.

I ran to the door and yanked it open.

“Here I am, sorry about the holdup…”, I greeted and gestured for her to come in.

She gave me a quizzical look as she entered.

“Leo, are you sure you’re okay?”, she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine… why do you ask?”, I replied, sitting down at the small table where the DWARF case was opened.

She sat down across from me and replied,

“I heard you making incoherent noises and thought you were about to be physically ill, but then I heard you groan my name and I got worried because I couldn’t tell if you were in pain or what, so I called your name a few times just to see, and when you didn’t answer the door, I feared the worst and started panicking.”

I met her gaze and found her studying my features. I could tell she was diagnosing me so I glanced over at my desk and remembered her mail.

“I have some of your mail… it must’ve been mixed up with mine…”, I said, getting up and going over to the desk.

To my horror, she followed me.

“Ooh, let’s see what I got…”, she said.

“Sorry things got a bit jumbled…”, I muttered, looking for her mail, when I noticed one of her magazines, the Sci-Ops Catalogue, poking out from underneath a few letters.

She grabbed it and then gasped as my Playboy fell out from between the pages of the Sci-Ops Catalogue.

“Really Leo? You have another one?”, she asked rhetorically, and this time the disappointment in her voice cut me open like one of her razor sharp scalpels.

I looked at her and cringed internally at the look on her face.

“I’m sorry, it came in the mail and I was going to throw it out but…”, I said, but she raised her hand and silenced me.

“Were you tossing off when I heard you saying my name?”, she asked in an emotionless voice.

“Yes.”, I replied.

“Why didn’t you throw it out?”, she asked.

“I—I don’t know… call it what it was, an err in judgment, but please understand that I’m only human.”, I replied, not knowing what else to say.

She picked up the Playboy and opened it up, leafing through it with a blank expression on her face.

“All of these models are perfect…and yet you imagine me in their places?”, she asked softly.

“Well, yeah…”

“They are much prettier than me…”, she mumbled, flipping through.

I pulled the magazine from her grasp and tossed it aside.

“Don’t sell yourself short…”, I murmured, hating when she would cut herself down.

“I just can’t see what you see.”, she said, “You say I’m beautiful and I start believing that I am, but then you turn around and toss off to pictures of those perfect women and I have a hard time believing you…”

I finally understood why she was disappointed in me for having the magazines, it wasn’t only because she thought I wouldn’t need them, it was because I kept building her up and tearing her back down again without knowing it.

“Jemma, you are beautiful and I never meant to hurt you like that…”, I said, glancing to the DWARF robots and recalling why I named them that way (they weren’t just Drones Wirelessly Automated to Retrieve Forensics, as their acronym suggested).

I walked over to the DWARFs and booted them up, flying them one by one over to Jemma, where they hovered around her head.

If she didn’t think I was being honest, I would prove her wrong.

She gazed at them and a ghost of a smile graced her lips.

“Leo, what are you doing?”, she asked softly.

“You remember when we built them in Sci-Ops?”, I asked.

She nodded.

“They were a part of our first collaborative project. You wanted to name them after the seven dwarves from Snow White, and we did.”, she replied.

“Snow White was the first Disney movie we watched together.”, I said, “But I didn’t want to name them after the dwarves for that reason alone.”

She glanced at me.

“Oh? Why did you want them to be named after the dwarves then?”, she asked sitting cross-legged on the floor as the DWARFs flew around her.

I crossed the room and sat next to her.

“Well, I could see the similarities between the fairy-tale and our work.”

“How so?”, she asked, tilting her head slightly.

“The Sci-Ops facility was like the scary woods, nobody really knew what would happen there, or if we would make it out in one piece. Our lab was like the little cottage, it was messy and unkempt until you came in and tidied the place up while I was working on the blueprints and you hummed… we made seven robots and during flight calibration tests, they all but destroyed the lab. We cleaned up together and you hummed while we worked again…then I realized something about you that set you apart from the other female agents of SHIELD.”

“What?”

“You were, by far, the fairest of them all.”

She gave me a small smile and blushed.

“If I’m the fairest of them all, then what does that make you?”, she asked.

“Just an admirer.”, I replied. “Nothing more.”

“If I asked nicely, would you consider being Prince Charming?”, she asked.

I flew the drones back to their box and powered them down.

“Would I make the cut?”, I asked, picking up the Playboy and tossing it in the trash.

She grinned broadly and made my heart beat faster.

I wouldn’t tear her down anymore.

“Leo, of course you would make the cut…”, she said, scooting closer to me, “You’re the only one that _could_.”

Jemma was so forgiving and I knew that she couldn’t stay mad at me for very long, just like I could never have an argument with her without feeling like a real git afterwards.

“I’m sorry I was being such a dimwit…”, I apologized, feeling like my simple apology wasn’t enough to say.

“You weren’t being a dimwit.”, she replied, slipping her small hand into mine.

“I couldn’t even figure out why my best friend was mad at me... If that wasn’t a prime example of me being daft, I don’t know what is.”

We sat in silence for a minute and the shadows lengthened as the sun started to set over the horizon, lighting up the sky with its red blazing light.

“Leo, I saw that one pose in the magazine… with the scientist… was that the one you liked?”, she asked softly, laying her head on my shoulder as her delicate fingers traced the rough planes of my hands in an almost reverent manner.

“Yeah.”, I replied before we lapsed into silence again.

“Why do you like me?”, she asked, “I’ve always wondered why you’ve stuck around after all this time?”

Her question caught me off guard and I answered without hesitation, saying the first things that came to mind.

“You make me smile. You were my friend and you were there for me when I needed someone to relate to. You just do something to me that I can't explain…”

She tipped her head up and pressed a delicate kiss to my jaw.

“When we moved into that flat on the Sci-Ops campus, I thought I would never feel at home there,”, she whispered, “you made it feel like home to me…”.

I shifted slightly and ended up kissing her.

It wasn’t at all like the kisses we shared in the lab or in the shower, there was no restless need or hungry passion behind it, there was just a single raw emotion that was identical to what I had felt earlier on the BUS when I realized I was in love with Jemma… what if she loved me back?

She made the faintest sound of approval and moved to deepen the kiss, one hand on my chest, the other in my hair.

I moved us so that we were on our knees and then, without breaking the kiss, we stood, our bodies working in harmony.

She pulled back and settled into my arms.

Jemma whispered my name softly, and I kissed her again, this time with more intensity.

She responded to it and pressed her small figure into my body, the shared unknown feeling between us intensifying by the second.

We stumbled back into the open door of my bedroom and my knees gave out when they hit the edge of the king sized bed.

If this had been our intended destination, then so be it.

I half crawled into the middle of the mattress, kicking off my shoes and hearing the tell-tale thud of them hitting the floor, closely followed by two more thuds as Jemma’s shoes followed.

We were both embracing on our knees in the middle of the bed, still kissing each other like the oxygen around us didn’t exist and the only thing in the whole world that could keep us alive was each other’s kiss.

Jemma loosened the tie around my neck before untying it altogether, tossing it aside as she worked to unbutton my shirt.

My fingers skimmed up her sides, untucking her blouse and placing my hands on her smooth skin below the fabric before fumbling with the tiny buttons on her blouse.

She broke away from me and unbuttoned her blouse swiftly before pulling the material off of her body and leaving her in her capris and her plain white bra.

I brushed my fingertips down the side of her exposed torso, still enjoying the way her skin felt under my touch. I was getting hard as her small hands roved over my body.

She slowly unbuttoned my shirt and I marveled at her, the red sunlight streaming through the window making her pale skin glow and bringing out every natural highlight in her hair. I reached behind her as she tossed my shirt aside and gently pulled the elastic loop out of her hair, watching as her soft auburn tresses fell about her shoulders.

She ran her hands over my chest and whispered,

“Is this okay?”

“Is what okay?”, I asked, perfectly content with her hands on my chest.

“The two of us… doing this with each other… Is it okay what we’re doing? I don’t want this to be just a quickie…”

I saw the worry in her eyes and a small part of my soul died.

I wrapped her in my arms.

“Jemma, I think it’s okay… I’m not looking for a quick shag... I don’t _want_ that… I want something meaningful…”, I looked her in her eyes and cupped her face, “I want to make love to you…”

She smiled and murmured,

“You do?”

I nodded, finally feeling like I could tell her how I felt about her.

“I love you, Jemma, I always have.”

She smiled and replied,

“Oh Leo, I love you too.”

We kissed each other, soft and slow, taking our time with undressing the other.

This wasn’t my first time having sex, nor was it Jemma’s, but there was something about this time that made my other sexual encounter look like one of Lieutenant Hill’s stick figures being compared to the Mona Lisa.

My other encounter was sloppy, nervous, unsure, and rushed. Nobody knew what the other wanted or liked. It was like she and I were speaking two different languages. I was ashamed that I had actually lost my virginity in that way, and to a silly girl named Norah who ran off with some bloke from London and eloped... then again, I was only seventeen at that time and I was desperate.

Jemma and I knew what the other one liked, we moved together, and we had always spoken the same scientific language. We were twenty six and knew what we wanted and how to get it. I would be content to have her like this for the rest of my days.

As she left a love bite on my collarbone, placing her mark on me, I truly felt like everything she did was poetry in motion *****.

I unclasped Jemma’s bra and let it slip down her arms as she unbuckled my belt and I hissed as her hand manipulated the fabric of my trousers and boxers over my aching erection.

I touched her breasts and she moaned my name as I kissed her clavicle and rolled her nipples gently between my fingers. I trailed my lips down to her left breast before I made her yelp as I sucked her nipple in between my lips, baring my teeth against the hardened flesh and groaning as she tugged on my hair.

I repeated the action on her other breast and my name fell from her lips a few more times.

I released her and kissed back up to her lips as she pushed my trousers off and I kicked them across the room.

I laid her down gently before kissing down the side of her body to her waist, unbuttoning her capris and pulling them down her legs. She carded her fingers through my hair as I kissed back up her beautiful body.

She whimpered, “Leo please…”, and bucked her hips into mine.

I hooked my thumbs in the waistband of her plain white knickers and pulled them off before tossing them aside and leaving her naked and wanting beneath me.

I gazed down at her and marveled at her body again, a small pang of guilt making my heart sink as I realized that I had indeed left bruises on her hips from this morning. I gazed up at her before kissing her bruised hips, stroking a hand down the inside her smooth thighs, and murmuring my apologies for being too rough with her.

As if to tell me that all was forgiven, she pulled my boxers off and released my hardened member. I shuddered as she stroked it a few times and she rubbed her thumb over the head, making me groan her name in a state of intense pleasure, growling in an almost feral way as she pulled her thumb away, and licked a bead of pre-cum off of it slowly.

I had no clue that Jemma was _this_ erotic when she was in the mood.

She kissed me, biting my lip gently, and I ran my hand down her body before it was her turn to whimper and groan as I pushed my index finger over her folds, teasing her clit, before slipping my finger into her silky wet heat.

“Oh my God… _Leo_ …”, she moaned from beneath me as I slid another finger into her to curl my fingers against her G-spot, her wetness dripping down my fingers slowly.

She was bucking her hips into my hand and I kissed her fiercely as I felt her feminine muscles contracting around my fingers as I separated my fingers, forcing more of her juices out and into my hand as I stretched her a little so I wouldn't hurt her upon entry.

The soft noises she emitted made me stroke her deeper.

"I'm... I'm so close...", she panted and I slipped my fingers out of her, making her groan impatiently before finding her clit and stroking it, delaying her orgasm.

Her moans were growing louder and she begged me to stop teasing her.

I obliged, staring her straight in the eyes as I lapped her arousal off my fingers, a ripple of pride passing through my body as her irises darkened.

I reached into the side drawer where I had stashed my wallet and grabbed a condom out.

Jemma tore the foil open with her teeth and rolled the thin latex down onto me, gazing up at me through her thick lashes as I stroked down the side of her body.

I rolled her onto her back and got on top of her, gazing for any sign of fear or doubt in her beautiful brown eyes.

“Leo… take me…”

This was really happening, I was really going to make love to her after all this time.  

I slid in slowly and we both gasped; I gasped at how tight and hot and perfect she was, she gasped at the stretch.

I could tell that I had hurt her a little by the way she emitted a barely audible whimper and I murmured soft, loving words into her ear with the aim to help her overcome whatever pain I caused her.

For a moment, I didn’t feel like Agent Leopold Fitz, the engineering genius from Glasgow who worked with Agent Jemma Simmons, the brilliant biochemist from Sheffield.

For a moment, it didn’t matter if I worked in a mobile laboratory on board the same plane as a woman who jumped out of a plane to save her friends from electrocution, a man who had quite literally risen from the dead, a woman who could end your life in the blink of an eye, a man who was an emotional robot, and a woman who could hack through any firewall in less time than it took for you to ask her ‘how long will this take?’.

In this moment, I was just Leo and she was just Jemma.

Just a man and a woman who desperately needed each other.

And right now, the only one who existed to me was her.

She was my everything.

* * *

**Simmons POV**

I gasped as Leo entered me. He was well endowed and I had to stretch to get used to him. I’m not a virgin, but I haven’t had sex since my first time, and that was nine years ago, so I wasn’t used to this.

It did hurt a little and I gasped at the sensation.

Leo could tell it was a little painful and he whispered sweet nothings in my ear between light kisses.

I gazed up at him, the red sunlight bathing him in a pink glow as his expression showed nothing but tender affection.

“Are ye’ okay?”, he whispered, pressing his lips to my forehead.

I nodded, the pain had only been fleeting, and I thrust my hips up into his gently, encouraging him to move.

He placed his forehead on mine and began to move, slowly at first but then gradually picking up the pace.

He hit my g spot with every thrust and I wrapped my legs around his waist to pull him closer, but my movement sent him deeper inside of me and I cried out in pleasure.

“Jemma… how on earth do ye’ feel so good?”, he groaned as I flexed my feminine muscles around him.

He went faster and I began to moan louder, feeling the waves of my orgasm approaching.

“Leo… oh God… I’m gonna…”, I panted, tripping over my words.

“Go on Jemma…”, he growled huskily in his deep Scottish brogue, placing a kiss on my lips and gazing into my eyes.

He slipped a hand in between our bodies and, just when I felt as though I couldn’t be closer to my climax, he just barely brushed the rough pad of his thumb over my clit and pushed me over the edge.

The next few minutes were a blur as I climaxed, digging my nails into Leo’s back.

“LEO!!!! OH GOD!!!”, I screamed, arching my back off the mattress.

When I finally came back to my senses, the silence seemed deafening.

I glanced up at Leo who was still on top of me, gazing into my eyes.

I saw him smirk before he whispered,

“Sorry Jemma, I’m not God… Jus’ Leo Fitz…”

Leo shifted, still buried inside of me, and still hard.

“You didn’t come?”, I asked in a voice that was hoarse from screaming, silently worrying that he was dissatisfied with me for not living up to his expectations.

He shook his head, slipping out of me, leaving me empty and unsatisfied as he disposed of the condom before joining me again in bed.

I wanted this to be good for him too, and he didn’t even get to have his release.

He kissed me softly before whispering,

“Was it good?”

If I wasn’t just catching my breath after making love to Leo and if my brain hadn’t turned to mush, I probably would’ve replied by telling him that it was the best I’ve ever had (and probably the best I ever will). But since my mind was still mush and I was still unsatisfied, a saucy flame was ignited inside of me instead.

I suddenly needed to feel him inside of me again, only this time I didn’t care how good it would feel for me, all I wanted was to please him, to _prove_ to him that he was the best. A new wave of energy filled my body and I found the strength to move.

I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I rolled him over so that he was on his back and I was on top of him.

I straddled his hips so that my bum was just touching his half-hard member and so my hands were on his chest.

There was a look of surprise in his eyes and he gasped.

“Jemma, wha’ are ye’ doin?”

I leaned down and kissed him hard, muffling his question. I smiled as he gripped my hips, one hand squeezing my bum firmly as he pushed his tongue into my mouth.

Our French kiss continued for a few more moments until I came up for air.

He went to speak, but I pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him.

“Leo, you didn’t get to have your release… think of this as an experiment we’re doing… I want to do what every good scientist does when their constants are uneven… I want to balance them out to find accurate results...”

His eyes darkened as I rubbed my bum against his now fully hardened cock.

“Chris’ woman… do ye’ know wha’ yer’ doin’ ta me?”, he growled, his voice heavy with desire making me extremely wet and I looked down between our bodies to see that I had left a bit of wetness on his abdomen.

I slid down his body and stroked his cock, making him groan incoherently.

I had half a mind to bring him off with my mouth, but I had never given a blowjob, so I put the idea out of my mind, not wanting to disappoint him if I didn’t do it well.

“Oh yes… I know _precisely_ what I’m doing…”, I replied seductively (before today, I didn’t think I could actually do that), “I’m showing you how good it was…”

I moved back up his body, and teased him by rubbing my opening over the head of his cock.

“Jemma…”, he moaned, “Yer’ drivin’ me absolutely insane…”

“Do you need something Leo?”, I purred, sinking down so only the head of his cock was inside of me.

“A condom, for starters… tha’ one we jus’ used was my las’ one…”, he groaned.

“We’re both clean, I’m on the three-month birth control injection, and it’s too early in my cycle for me to be ovulating.”, I stated, rocking my hips slightly, “If you want to go ask Ward or Coulson for a condom, then you can…”.

He thrust up into me and I gasped.

“Not a chance woman…”, he growled and I think he knew what type of things he could do to me just by speaking in that tone.

I removed him from my body and leaned forward as he swore.

“Don’ be a tease…ye’ know how impatient I get…”, he growled in reply, “Ye’ don’ wanna anger tha’ bull ‘cause …”

“It isn’t teasing if I plan on making you come…”, I interrupted before moaning helplessly as he cupped my breasts and brushed his thumbs over my super sensitive nipples, a devious grin gracing his lips at my reaction.

“…ye’ don’ wanna get tha’ horns…”, he growled in my ear in a low, sinful voice that sent chills down my spine.

His victory was short-lived as I impaled myself on him and began rocking my hips at an agonizingly slow pace.

He felt so good naturally and I moaned as my clit brushed his pubic bone.

His loud moans filled the air and my name was interchanged with that of the Almighty.

“Oh Leo… is this what you want?”, I moaned as I braced my hands on his chest, the new angle of entry causing him to hit every sensitive spot within me, both coming and going.

“Yes…”, he growled between his teeth, gripping my hips firmly and thrusting up into me as I sank down onto him, the contrary motion making me cry out.

I braced my hands on the headboard and willed myself to keep moving, feeling my second orgasm approaching.

I flexed my feminine muscles experimentally and smiled when I heard Leo gasp.

My name was chanted like a prayer on his lips and I let his name roll off my tongue just as frequently as the waves of pleasure got stronger.

“Jemma… I’m close… please tell me that yer’ close too…”, he groaned.

I nodded before I looked him in his eyes and saw how his irises had darkened with passion to a deep sapphire grey.

I arched my back as he thrust into me two more times and then he practically roared my name as he came inside of me. His release triggered mine and I followed him over the edge, laying down on his chest as I shuddered. I gasped his name as he marked my neck with love bites, claiming me as his.

I don’t know how long I laid on his chest with my forehead against his, but it felt so good to have him there, kissing me softly as we came down off of cloud nine.

I shifted off of him and laid facing him in the bed as we both panted, our eyes never breaking contact.

“I love ye’…”, he whispered hoarsely, tracing my cheek reverently with his fingertips, “…an’ yer’ so beautiful…”

“I love you too…”

We laid there until I rolled out of bed and walked into the en suite bathroom with Leo following me to go and freshen up.

I flipped on the light and came face-to-face with a full length mirror and a reflection of Leo and myself.

My hair was in serious need of brushing, my lips were redder and puffier than normal from kissing Leo, I was sweating, my cheeks were reddened, I must have had at least four deep red and purple blossoming love bites on my neck, there were bruises on my hips from where Leo gripped them, and a there was a mixture of Leo’s seed and my wetness running down my inner thigh.

“Here, let me get ye’ a towel…”, Leo said, noticing my leg.

Leo turned and I noticed that there were scratch marks on his back with dried blood around them from where I had gripped his shoulders. I glanced at my hands and saw that his blood was under my nails, a pang of guilt passing through me at the thought of hurting Leo.  

He passed me a towel and I wiped my thigh off, not making eye contact with him.

“Yer’ sure ye’ can’t get… well, ye’ know, _pregnant,_ because o' what we jus’ did… Are ye’ sure yer’ not in tha’ fertile part o' yer’ cycle?”, he asked, running a hand through his messy curls, as he made eye contact with me in the mirror, “Because I don’ wanna ruin yer’ life with a baby…”.

I turned to him.

“My period has been like clockwork since I was thirteen, I’ve charted them and they've always been on schedule… It’s too early for me to be fertile, besides, I have the Depro-Provera shot to keep me protected for three months and to lighten my flow, most female agents decide to get the shot or Implanon versus the pill in case something should happen to them while in the field, mainly in case they get…well…captured for a longer period of time and then, you know, raped…”, I responded, but the second I mentioned rape, Leo tensed up.

“Is that why ye’ got it? In case ye’ ended up bein’ a victim?”, he asked, pain and worry in his voice.

“Well, the fact that it significantly lightens the menstrual flow was one key reason for me to get it… but I mainly got it as a precaution.”, I replied, “Should something like that ever happen…”

I washed my hands as he picked up his brush out of his travel bag and brushed the messy snarls out of my hair.

“Don’ ever say somethin’ like that again… I can’t bear ta’ think about ye’ bein’ harmed in any way…”, he murmured.

I finally got his blood out from beneath my nails as he kissed my now smooth hair.

I dampened a washcloth and told him to turn around, which he obediently did without question.

I opened up the small first aid kit that I forced him to carry with him in his bag and used the washcloth to wipe the dried blood away. He made a small noise of discomfort in the back of his throat as I used one of the alcohol pads to disinfect the scrapes.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you…I’m sorry.”, I said in remorse as he hissed softly at the sting.

“I’ll be okay… I’ve been through worse than this, ye’ know that…”, he replied, looking at me in the mirror.

I nodded, recalling the time when he fell down the steps at the Sci-Ops facility, cutting his back on a jagged piece of metal that had fallen out of the box he was carrying when he fell. It had slashed right through his white dress shirt and cut him open. He came to me immediately, barging into our shared lab, and interrupting Professor Vaughn, who was ranting at me for no reason (Vaughn was always upset at someone), just so I could patch him up.

When I was done cleaning out the scratches, I went to leave, but Leo stopped me.

“Ye’ don’t have ta’ leave… there’s a small kitchen area in here, I can brew some tea up an’ we can work on tha’ DWARFs if ye’ want.”

“Let’s do that in my room… we made a mess in your bed and should call housekeeping for fresh bedclothes.”, I replied, wanting to clean myself up.

“Suit yerself then, I’ll jus’ take a quick shower an’ be righ’ over wit’ tha’ DWARFs.”

“I’ll order some dinner. What are you tasting?”

“A Prosciutto an’ Buffalo Mozzarella sandwich with jus’ a hint o’ homemade Pesto Aioli…but pizza is fine too…”, he replied with a smile.

I nodded and pulled on my clothes, snatching his discarded dress shirt off of the floor, before running across the hall to my room and showering.

Leo came over with the DWARFs and we got to work on them for a little while before the pizza arrived.

I soon changed into a pair of running shorts and I pulled on Leo's dress shirt from earlier to wear as my pajamas. I didn't wear a bra or bother buttoning the shirt, leaving a strip of bare skin exposed to tease him.

When he saw me in his shirt, he murmured,

"Seein' ye' wearin' my shirt like that reminds me of a victor's flag flyin' over a conquered fortress, but yer' far too beautiful ta' be some drafty old conquered fortress..."

He took a step towards me and kissed my lips softly before pulling away and whispering,

"I'd rather think o' ye' as my one an' only, as tha' pretty young lass who stole my attention, an' as tha' queen of my heart..."

I smiled, perfectly content with being his and his alone.  

I soon found myself yawning at around half past nine, the day’s exhaustion finally catching up with me.

“I’m exhausted Leo…”, I yawned.

“I can leave if ye’ want ta’ go ta’ bed…”, he said as he began packing up the DWARFs.

I placed a hand on his, stopping him.

“Stay with me…”, I said.

It wasn’t a question, I needed him beside me.

“I’m not a very calm sleeper…I toss an’ turn a lot…”, he muttered, but I silenced him with a gentle kiss.

“I don’t mind.”, I replied, leading him to the dimly lit bedroom.

I settled under the covers, Leo settling beside me, and we faced each other.

“Jemma?”, he asked after we were comfortably situated in each other’s arms, “Why me?”

“Why you what?”, I asked, unsure of what he meant.

“Why do ye’ trust me this much? Why did ye’ choose ta’ stay with me after all this time when ye’ could’ve gone off on yer’ own after tha’ Academy?”, he asked.

In the dim light, I could see how concerned he was.

“You were the only one I could relate to at the Academy. My serums needed efficient delivery devices that I could only imagine, the special procedures that I wanted to perform wouldn’t be possible without special equipment, and my ideas for new inventions would have to remain ideas because I didn’t know the first thing about taking a pile of metal and turning it into a working machine. I needed you to turn my ideas into realities, to be my sounding board, and to be the other half of me. You challenged me to be better and we agreed with our professors when they said that we made a great team. I stayed with you when we went to Sci-Ops because I knew that, deep down, I was incomplete without you. People started calling us FitzSimmons because we did everything together, we even completed each other’s sentences. You made me feel safe and you are my first true friend... you're my hero, my engineer-in-well-tailored-lab coats.”, I replied.

“When did ye’ realize that ye’ were in love with me?”, he asked.

“The day you almost jumped out of the plane to save me. It hit me hard yesterday when you asked me about my daydreams and I told you about my dream wedding. I admitted to myself that I loved you when you said that I would make a beautiful bride.”, I replied.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I realized that I had been in love with you for years in that moment. When did you realize that you loved me?”

“After tha’ shower when ye’ walked away from me at my bunk.”

“Today?”, I replied, surprised that it took the both of us so long to realize our feelings for each other, yet we had only just consummated our relationship several hours ago.

“Yeah…I guess I’m a bit of a late bloomer…”, he said, an unmistakable note of sadness in his reply.

I pressed against him and looked into his eyes.

“I don’t mind that as long as you don’t mind the pace of things.”

He kissed my forehead and I felt him smile as he wrapped his arms around me.

“I don’t mind a bit.”, he replied.

“I love you.”, I murmured.

“I love ye’ too.”

A few moments later, Leo was asleep and as I let myself follow him into the land of dreams, my last conscious thought crossed my mind.

_“Either I’m living in a dream, or life couldn’t be sweeter.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment, leave Kudos, subscribe, and bookmark.  
> Constructive criticism and tips are very welcome, as this is my first time writing smut.  
> *bonus points if you know what song the "poetry in motion" line came from :D


	6. A Man of Many Talents, A Woman With Bad Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ward can't sleep because of FitzSimmons and their -ahem- "activities" so he leaves and has every intention of crashing on Skye's couch until he learns the hard way that when you've been alone for so long, you lose sight of the person you used to be. He realizes that loneliness has it's limits and decides that it's high time he found himself again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was Jossed ages ago.   
> Skye never gets shot, Ward doesn't turn evil, Garrett isn't the Clairvoyant, and HYDRA was defeated after WWII.

* * *

**Ward POV**

As the elevator doors slid open, I bade my teammates goodnight, told them that I was turning in early, made a beeline for my door, swiped the card, entered the room, and shut the door behind myself in a matter of seconds. I didn’t care where my other teammates had gone off to, all I was focused on was getting settled in.

I was more than ready to sleep for the next seven straight hours.

I told Skye before we disembarked that I wanted to spend the day with her tomorrow, and that she should get some sleep tonight, but then the thought occurred to me that Skye was like a child on a sugar rush when it came to doing fun stuff, like dancing (now that she had the basics down, she was excited to do more), even when she was tired, and that _I_ would be the one who needed the most sleep to function and keep up with a well-rested Skye on the dance floor the next day.

I was exhausted from the jet lag and generally spent, so when I went to my room, I showered, put my Invisalign retainers in, and promptly tumbled into bed.

But I didn’t fall asleep.

Instead I laid there on my back and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling while listening to the steady thud of my neighbor’s headboard hitting the wall.

Leave it to me to be the one with the horny neighbors.

I would _end_ them, whoever they are, if they made any more racket than they were already making.

The thought had barely crossed my mind when a high pitched moan was added to the thudding noise.

I didn’t rap on the wall, I was too tired and honestly didn’t feel like ruining some lucky bastard’s day by being my normal killjoy self, so I reached for my iPhone and ear buds, hoping that I could drown out the sound of my neighbors having sex with some Led Zeppelin.

I put one ear bud in and then reached for the other when I heard it.

“LEO!!!! OH GOD!!!”

The female scream was shrill enough to move through the wall and I was very disturbed, not only by the scream or the fact that the one who had screamed was apparently a British woman, but also by the name she had screamed.

Were Fitz and Simmons _actually_ breaking the Anti-Fraternization policy?

My hearing immediately refocused itself from listening to _No Quarter_ to listening for any other signs that FitzSimmons were breaking the Anti-Frat policy.

It was silent for a long time until I heard the bed creaking again next door and then heard what was clearly Fitz saying Simmons’s first name.

Okay, they were _definitely_ breaking the Anti-Frat policy, but I was in no place to report them, even if I wanted to.

I never thought there would be a day when I realized that Dr. Leo Fitz had a better sex life than me, or even that he _had_ a sex life...mine was nonexistent.

Lucky bastard.

I had to leave the room, there was no way in hell that I could listen to my teammates having sex and attempt to get any sort of sleep whatsoever.

I grabbed a few things off my bedside table, left my hotel room, and texted Skye.

6:45_to Skye: Hey. It’s Grant, what room are you in?

I leaned against the wall in the hall outside of my room and stared at my feet, glad that the sound of FitzSimmons hooking up was completely muffled.

I looked up when a door opened down the hall.

May emerged from her room wearing a black one piece swimsuit with a black sarong wrapped around her waist and a pair of black flip flops on her feet. She wore her hair up for once and slid her dark aviator sunglasses into place.

She had a small hot pink tote bag on one shoulder and had her towel, which was also bright pink, slung over her arm. Both the bag and the towel had the image of Hello Kitty printed on them.

I was gaping at her, honestly surprised that she liked Hello Kitty and that she owned not one, but _two_ items that weren’t black.

May looked in my direction, her expression as unreadable as ever.

“What are you staring at?”, she asked in her usual deadpan.

I looked over my shoulder to make sure there wasn’t someone behind me before looking back.

“Uh, your towel and bag… I never thought…”, I began awkwardly.

“That I actually liked girly things and owned something that wasn’t black?”, she finished.

I nodded, now getting the feeling that she could read my mind.

She walked over to the elevator, pressed the button and waited for the doors to open with her back to me.

“And, no, I can’t read minds.”, she deadpanned, not even turning to glance at me.

I gaped at her a second time, wondering how she could guess what I was thinking.

The elevator doors slid open and she walked in, turning to look at me.

“Ward, close your mouth before you lose your retainers.”, she said as the doors closed.

I closed my mouth, still amazed that May had a girly side and _wasn’t_ somehow a mind reader.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to read the message from Skye.

6:50_ from Skye: Oh hey Robot, I’m in room No. 319. It’s at the end of the hall near the stairway.

I walked down to room 319 and knocked.

I hope I’m not _actually_ interrupting her personal time like I thought I was doing the last time I knocked on her door.

“Coming… Just give me a sec to put a shirt on!”, she called and I felt my face get hot.

I wondered if she was born without that little imaginary filter in between your brain and your mouth, the one that is supposed to keep you from saying things that may be too in depth, vulgar, and even sometimes embarrassing.

I tried to straighten myself out, but you can only do so much when you’re wearing a gray SHIELD t-shirt, black basketball shorts, and a black pair of sandals.

Skye answered the door promptly.

She was dressed in a pair of short athletic shorts, an old t-shirt that had the sleeves cut off, mismatched ankle socks, and she had her hair tied up in a messy bun, a few stray strands falling free.

She didn’t wear any makeup and that made me feel lucky, like I was the only one who could see her like this, and I recalled overhearing a conversation about makeup between Skye and Simmons. Simmons asked her if she ever had a makeup free day and Skye had laughed.

 _“No way!”_ , she had said, _“If you ever see me without makeup then you’re definitely my best friend!”_. Simmons had laughed and replied, _“What about if the friend was a guy? I only think Fitz has seen me without my makeup on about five or six times!”_. Skye replied without missing a beat, _“Oh, if any guy saw me sans makeup, he would be one I trusted explicitly, probably my boyfriend… Hell, Miles and I dated for ages and he never saw me without makeup on…”_.

She must’ve thought I was someone special to let me in and see her natural beauty.

“Hey Robot, what brings you down to my room?”, she asked and smiled, showing off her own retainer, which suddenly made me feel a million times better about replying, since I couldn’t really speak that well with the Invisalign retainers in my mouth.

“Oh, I just wanted to hang out, see what’s good on TV, possibly crash on your couch…”, I replied.

“You have retainers too?”, she asked, ushering me inside while pointing to her mouth and the metal wire that fit right along her already perfect teeth.

I nodded and went into the kitchenette to take out the retainers over the sink.

“Yeah, I had to have a lot of dental work done over the years. When I was in high school, I had some pretty bad teeth. I mean they weren’t too bad, but they were crooked. I entered SHIELD and got kicked in the teeth during my training. I chipped a couple teeth and had to see a dentist. When the dentist went to fix it, he said that if I was going to go on undercover missions, I was going to have to see a cosmetic dentist and an orthodontist, so I went and they hooked me up with veneers and braces for three years and those straightened my teeth out really well, especially after I had all my wisdom teeth pulled. After the braces came off, I got a few new veneers, a whitening treatment, and the Invisalign retainers to keep everything straight.”, I replied as I washed my hands and put the retainer case back in my pocket before I noticed that she had joined me in the small room.

“I had braces from the age of twelve because I had some serious spacing and overbite issues. After I got them off at age fifteen, I got a retainer and I’ve worn one ever since, but only at night... I still have my wisdom teeth, they never gave me any problems.”, she replied, removing her own retainer and rinsing it off before putting it in its case.

“So…”, I began after an awkward silence had settled over us, hoping that my lame attempt at breaking the silence would lead to Skye bringing up another topic.

“What was wrong with your room?”, Skye asked as she flounced down on the couch cushions, tucked her feet underneath of her and patted the seat next to her, inviting me to sit.

“Um, nothing was really wrong with the room, it was my neighbors that were the problem.”, I replied, sitting down.

“What were they doing? Arguing? Because that’s what my neighbors were doing the last time we stayed in a hotel…”, she said with a grin, “And that woman could yell... I almost felt sorry for the guy…she pretty much tore him a new one…”

“No, they were… um… doing _it_.”, I replied, still uncomfortable with letting the word ‘sex’ just roll off my tongue.

“Oh. My. God. They were having sex?!”, Skye asked as she laughed.

“Yeah.”, I replied.

“What room are you in anyway?”, she asked.

“300, it’s the last room at the other end of the hall, why do you ask?”, I replied.

Skye laughed again.

“Because Fitz’s room is number 302 and Simmons hasn’t even looked at any of the texts I’ve sent her in the past few hours.”, She replied with a sly grin on her face, “Do you think they’re having fun?”

I huffed.

“If the amount of noise they were making is any indication, I’ll say they’re having a blast.”, I replied in a deadpan, “Can we please not talk about our teammates doing it?”

“Gladly, but it’s about damn time those two got together…”, she replied, turning on the TV and surfing through the channels to see what was good.

Skye stopped on a channel that had a movie about to come on.

“There’s nothing really on besides this and whatever crap is on the reality TV channels…”, she stated, “Are you okay with watching a movie?”, she asked.

I nodded.

“I’d rather watch some movie than reality TV.”, I replied.

“Okay, it’s starting…”, Skye said, silencing me.

During the first seconds of the opening credits, I realized that this was a movie I recognized from my teenage years when I was, well, _not_ the same person I am today.

In fact, I was the exact opposite.

“ _The Phantom of the Opera_...”, I murmured as the nostalgia of my seventeen year old self crept over me.

“I remember watching this when I was staying with one of the last foster families I had…”, Skye began, “The mother was a chorus teacher and she had it on DVD.”

I felt like I should tell her something about my own experience with this movie, after all, it did have emotional value. There were memories attached to this movie and I wanted to tell her everything, but I still wasn’t comfortable spilling my guts to her, even if we were in a non-platonic relationship.

“Do you remember this movie?”, she asked, glancing sideways at me.

I nodded, not wanting to say much else unless she asked.

“Tell me.”, she said.

It wasn’t a question.

I sighed.

If this was going to be a part of our relationship, then I would have to get used to her asking about my memories and inquiring about things that I tried so hard to forget, like the memories of who I was before I joined SHIELD, my feelings, and even my dreams.

“I actually remember the original musical, mainly because I was in a production of it in high school…”, I paused, choosing my words carefully, “I was a different person in high school than I am today… I actually didn’t become an emotionless agent until I was recruited for SHIELD and went through training. Before all that though, I actually had pretty decent people skills.”

“You had people skills?”, Skye asked as if she didn’t believe me.

“Yeah, I did. I stopped using them when I went through training because they taught us to never let your guard down and let people in. That’s how people were compromised. But in high school I did a lot of things that I’ll bet you would’ve never thought I did.”, I replied, slowly becoming more comfortable with speaking about my past.

“So what did you do? Were you a total nerd?”, she asked.

“Well, I was in the school’s honors chorus, I was in the thespian society, I was a runner for the varsity track and cross country teams, and I was even in the color guard for the marching band. I was one of the guys that everyone liked and I had a bunch of friends… I was always busy with school stuff or working out and practicing my self-defense skills and that kept me from being depressed about my home life.”, I replied.

Skye picked up the remote as if she could sense my slight discomfort when it came to talking about my home life.

“We don’t have to watch this if it reminds you of your past, we can see what else is on…”

“No.”, I said, “Let’s just watch this.”

Skye nodded and scooted closer to me.

“Could you tell me what it felt like?”, she asked after a while.

I was confused for a second.

“What do you mean?”, I asked.

“Could you tell me what having friends in school felt like… because I never knew…You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but I was just wondering…”, she replied, looking at her hands.

“Well, I don’t really remember how it felt to be everyone’s friend... but I do know that everywhere I went, someone needed my help, whether it was something like helping someone with a problem in class or playing a role in a musical because the director needed a good singer. The gratitude was what made me feel good but the fact that people were there for me when I needed help was truly amazing.”, I replied.

“It sounds like it was perfect.”, she stated quietly.

“It was near perfect, probably as close to perfection as I will ever get.”, I said.

She scooted closer to me and I found myself moving to embrace her.

“I get scared sometimes…”, she whispered, “because I’m a part of the team and I feel like I’m finally where I belong…”

“You _do_ belong here… why are you scared?”

“I don’t want to be abandoned and pushed away for being an 0-84. It happened all the time when I was a kid, for my safety and for the safety of my foster families. Why should I feel like it won’t happen now that I’m an adult? I’m technically an agent in training, SHIELD could just assign me to a different team. I want to be a part of this team because it’s like the family and friends I never had but at the same time I don’t want to put you all in danger.”, she replied.

“We won’t abandon you, not now, not ever…”, I said, pulling her against my side, “Even if SHIELD reassigned you, we would fight the orders and keep you with us.”

She looked up at me.

“You mean you guys would defy direct orders? For me?”, she asked.

“Of course we would, you’re a friend and a family member.”, I replied without a moment’s hesitation before adding, “Although you’re more than that to me.”

“Thank you Grant.”, she said, clinging to me.

I held her to my body, remaining silent as my repressed memories came rushing back to the front of my mind.

“When you were in the musical, who were you cast as?”, she asked as Christine sang in the movie.

_“Angel of music, guide and guardian, grant to me your glory, Angel of music, hide no longer. Secret and strange angel…”_

I remained silent for a few moments.

“Uh, Grant? Did you hear me?”, she asked.

I nodded.

Raoul had just left Christine’s room in the movie.

“So who were you?”

I grinned as the lyrics came back to me.

“Insolent boy, this slave of fashion, basking in your glory! Ignorant fool, this brave young suitor, sharing in my triumph!”, I sang in unison with the audio from the movie, almost perfectly matching Gerard Butler’s voice.

I glanced at Skye and chuckled when I saw her surprised expression.

“No way. You were the Phantom?”, she asked incredulously.

I nodded.

“I’m having a really hard time picturing you as a people person, let alone an actor in your high school’s production of The Phantom of The Opera. How do you go from the top male member in the drama club to being a cold-blooded specialist for SHIELD?”, she replied, looking up at me.

I shrugged.

“SHIELD wanted someone who could act and I had experience. They kind of chose me for Special Ops…”, I replied before leaning down to kiss her.

“I take that back…”, she said, wrapping her arms around me, “You’re way too cuddly to be cold-blooded.”

I smiled down at her. I had never been called “cuddly” before, but I would rather be cuddly than cold-blooded.

“I was cold-blooded, but that was because I didn’t have anything, or _anyone_ , to fight for… now I do.”

“I bet you made a really hot Phantom.”, she murmured, “I like it when you sing, you have a good voice.”

We spent the next hour or so in silence but I would sing my parts softly, partially because Skye liked my voice and partially because I hadn’t sung in ages.

I glanced down at the end of the movie after the credits were done rolling and found her fast asleep.

She looked so peaceful, even if the position she was in looked wholly uncomfortable. I had to move her to her bed so that she wouldn’t have muscle cramps in the morning.

I slid my arms underneath of her and picked her up bridal style, carrying her into the adjoining bedroom.

I laid her on the bed and situated her beneath the covers, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face and leaning down to press my lips to her forehead.

“Goodnight Skye…”, I whispered before rising and walking away from her to go sleep on the couch, pulling a spare blanket off of the vanity stool as I went.

I had just situated myself on the couch after replacing my retainers and was drifting off when I heard her scream in terror.

The sound of her frightened screams chilled me to my bones and I leapt to my feet.

“Grant?!?!?!”, she cried, panic rising in her voice as I bolted into the bedroom and knelt by her side.

“Skye? Skye…”, I called softly, shaking her carefully out of her nightmare.

Her eyes flew open and she jolted up out of bed with another bone-chilling cry, tears streaming down her cheeks. She lashed out with her fists, trying to fight off whatever horror she thought had followed her out of her nightmare and into reality.

I dodged her blows for a couple seconds as she yelled, “Get back!! Leave me alone!!”.

She was in a disoriented state of being, the one where the body is awake and the brain is in the grey area between sleep and consciousness.

“Skye! It’s me, it’s Grant! I won’t hurt you!”, I reasoned, catching her right fist and turning on the lamp by her bedside, bathing the room in a soft yellow glow.

She looked around at her surroundings and then looked at me, lowering her fists as realization dawned on her.

“Grant…”, she whispered through silent tears, still panting and sweating from the intensity of the nightmare.

“I’m here,”, I soothed, sitting up on the edge of the bed and brushing her tears away with my thumb, “Don’t worry, I’m here…”

She grabbed me and hugged me with a force that made the air temporarily leave my lungs.

She buried her face into the place where my neck and shoulders met and cried into my shirt.

I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back while murmuring consoling words into her ear.

“Grant?”, she whimpered, sniffing as I pulled her tighter into my embrace.

“Shh, I’m here…Everything will be okay…”, I whispered, rubbing her back as she let it out of her system.

“A-Are you real? Are you going to leave me? Is this another nightmare where everyone dies?”, she whispers, clearly shaken by whatever horrific thing she had witnessed in her night terror.

I gazed into her wide, frightened eyes and my heart broke.

“I’m real… I’m not going anywhere… I swear, this isn’t another nightmare…”, I replied, loosening my grip on her.

“Don’t let me go… Please don’t…”, she begged, scrambling to hold me tighter, and I lifted up the covers on the other side of the bed.

“Don’t worry, I’m just sliding in next to you…”, I said as I moved so that I was still holding her as I got under the covers.

She nodded and nestled into my arms again, her sobs becoming quieter as I held her.

“Everyone was dead and it was all my fault...”, she whimpered.

“It was only a bad dream…”, I murmured, feeling useless, like I should be saying more to console her.

“The demons who murdered everyone in my village found us and, and they manipulated me…”, Skye gasped between shaky breaths, “I-I murdered everyone…”

I didn’t want to hear how each of us had met our ends by her hand, but I couldn’t force her to just stop and keep the horrible things she had seen in her nightmare to herself. Things like that needed to be let go, even if it was difficult for someone else to understand.

I held her and spoke softly to her all the same.

“C-Coulson was first… I s-shot him in the head in the lab… they made me put the lab on lockdown so FitzSimmons couldn’t escape…t-then they made me go up to the cockpit…”, she was sobbing hard now and I was doing my best to console her.

“M-May was fast, b-but I ran her through with a metal pole…s-she was dying when they made me land the BUS… Then they made me go back t-to the lab and I had to drag May’s body…”, she cried. “I went into the lab and, and they gave me a knife… F-Fitz, poor Fitz…h-he stood in front of Simmons and protected her until they made me kill him…They both screamed, I don’t know whose screams were worse, the screams… they didn’t stop when Fitz fell to the floor… I didn’t kill Simmons… she grabbed the gun out of my holster…s-she took her own life on her knees… f-f-fell right across Fitz’s body when she died… there was so much blood…”

I steeled myself for what was to come… surely my death would be the most horrific of them all because I was the one who meant the most to her.

“T-Then you came rushing in and a demon grabbed you by the throat. I-It forced you to leave… it changed your mind for you and made you leave me… You left and the hatred in your eyes was more than I could ever bear… I was scared and you said that I was the reason everyone died… y-you called me a murderer and a traitor, you said nobody wanted me and that I was bad news for everyone… that wherever I went, death and destruction followed. You said that that was the reason why I was never loved…the demons were gone and I was alone as you walked away.”

So I didn’t die in her nightmare. She didn’t kill me. I was the one out of everyone on our team who hurt her the most.

“… I was kneeling in a pool of everyone’s blood but yours and mine… then the demons flew straight at me and I screamed…”

She fell silent for a minute, the silence broken only by the sound of her sniffling.

“Then I woke you up…”, I added as an afterthought.

I felt her nod.

“Did I hit you?”, she asked after a long silence, sounding more emotionally stable now than before, the shakiness leaving her voice.

I held her close to my body.

“You tried… you almost got me with your right hook, but I was lucky that I caught it.”, I replied.

“Sorry…”, she apologized.

“You’ll be okay…”, I said, planting a kiss in her hair, saying those words more or less as a way to calm my own thoughts and reassure myself that everything would be just fine.

We laid there for a long time and I almost thought she had fallen asleep again until she rolled onto her side so that I was spooning her.

I liked the feel of her curves and I hugged her closer, her body slipping into mine almost perfectly.

“Grant…”, she began thoughtfully, almost as if she was saying my name to feel the way it rolled off her tongue.

“Yes?”, I asked, brows raised slightly even though she couldn’t see me.

“I, well, this is going to sound really stupid and you’ll probably laugh at me, but I like the way your name sounds.”, she responded, and I could tell she was blushing by her tone of voice.

I couldn’t help but feel a little surge of pride move through my body.

_She liked the way my name sounds…_

“I like hearing you say it...you should use my first name more often…”, I replied and immediately regretted it, “I’m sorry, that just sounded wrong…”, I quickly apologized.

“It’s fine, I know that feeling…you think something sounds okay I your mind and then you say it and it sounds dirty.”, she replied.

“Well your name is different and I like it…”, I said, trying to get out of the awkward situation I had put myself in.

“Thanks, I’m glad that one of the younger nuns named me, the older ones probably would’ve given me a bad name.”

“I highly doubt that the name they could’ve given you would be worse than Grant Ulysses Ward,”, I replied, hating the way my middle name sounded, “I was named after the civil war general.”

“Wasn’t the civil war general’s name Ulysses Grant? Why didn’t your parents name you that?”, Skye asked.

“Well, according to Gramsy, my dad wanted me to be Ulysses Grant Ward, but my mom said that I would have a tough time in school with a name like that, so they switched the two in order to make my name sound a little more normal. So tell me, how bad did the names get, because you turned out okay, that means the others must have had fairly decent names too…”

“You weren’t in the orphanage, you didn’t hear some of the _wonderful_ names that the other kids got…”, she said with a note of sarcasm in her voice.

I shouldn’t have laughed, but I did.

“What were some of the names?”, I asked bemusedly.

“Some of the girls had names like Janet, Olga, Ursula, Gertrude, Margaret, Francine, and Gladys… The boys had pretty standard names like Michael, Chris, Zachary, and Joseph. I only think the nuns gave the girls the ugly names.”, she replied.

I smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

“Well, I’m glad that they took pity on you.”, I murmured.

She stretched in an almost catlike way and laid on her back, gazing up at me with a small smile.

“Why don’t you go ahead and kiss me properly?”, she whispered.

I smirked and brushed my lips against hers, thoroughly enjoying the fact that she was okay with me being this close to her.

She sighed softly as I pulled away and she rolled over to become the little spoon once more. She switched off the light and I pulled her against my body again.

I liked holding her like this mainly because I had never been able to cuddle with any of the women I had slept with, either because cuddling your mark was considered “getting too attached” or the woman wasn’t the cuddly type.

When I was with May, there was never cuddling or pillow talk, even after we had just slept together. Then again, sleeping with May was more or less one of those “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” type of arrangements. On the one occasion that I hugged May for about a minute after sex, all I could think about was how much better this would be if May had a little more body fat in the right places instead of being all muscle... seriously, hugging her was like hugging a brick and stick at the same time.

Skye was different and I liked her because she wasn’t firm and toned like May, she had curves and was still skinny but was just this side of being considered thick.  

My attraction for Skye extended beyond just how she looked physically, I always had a weakness for girls who were somewhat petite but still had a little more weight to throw around.

What really attracted me to her was how strong she was. Now that she had let me see her at her weakest point and allowed me to comfort her, I felt that we were closer than ever.

“Skye is a beautiful name, much better than Gertrude or Gladys…”, I mused aloud.

She giggled and it was like music to my ears.

“Thank you Grant.”, she responded.

I yawned out a sleepy, “You’re welcome.”, and pulled her closer, wanting to make her feel safe again.

She was soon asleep and I listened to her gentle breathing until I drifted off.

**Skye POV**

I opened my eyes and then closed them again, internally cursing myself for failing to close the drapes before I went to bed.

The bright sunlight was only slightly filtered by the gauzy curtains and I stirred slightly before I noticed that there was an arm draped lazily about my waist.

I glanced beside me and found Grant sleeping soundly, snoring occasionally.

Memories from last night came rushing back and I sighed.

He had comforted me last night and hadn’t left my side since.

He looked so peaceful when he slept. His face wasn’t hardened in concentration or full of serious tension. He was relaxed and at ease.

I went to slip out of his loose embrace to go to the bathroom, but he pulled me closer.

I glanced over and found him still sleeping.

We were pressed against each other and a surge of excitement passed through me as I felt his hardened length against my backside. I was still really on edge since I hadn’t been able to get myself off the night before because Grant had joined me.

I wondered how he would react if I decided to grind against him.

I shifted against his dick and heard him groan in his sleep, pulling me closer.

I began rocking my hips against it and he stirred.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw him glaring at me with a straight face.

I didn’t think he was awake and the fact that he wasn’t smiling about his personal wake-up call made me stop grinding.

He leaned down and murmured in my ear, his voice low and rough and perfect,

“Skye…please don’t stop.”

His hands moved to my hips and held me in place.

I pressed my backside into his hard-on and began moving with a purpose.

“I didn’t think you liked my idea of a wake-up call… you were straight-faced when you woke up…”, I murmured.

“Oh no, I liked it…”, he groaned, “Good God Skye, the way you do this to me… it should be criminal…”

It was difficult to lay on my side and grind on him at the same time.

“Uh, this isn’t as easy as I thought it would be…”, I said.

The words were barely out of my mouth when Grant rolled on his back and flipped me over in one fluid motion so that I was straddling his hips.

I squeaked and he gave me a lazy half smile.

“You’re beautiful…”, he murmured as I began to grind on him again.

One of his hands held my hips in place while the other one held the hand I had on his chest. He kissed me gently and a small voice in the back of my head was commenting on how good he was at multitasking. I opened my mouth and he slipped his tongue in.

If there was one thing Grant Ward was good at, it would have to be kissing.

We pulled apart for air and both of us were panting.

“I’m being selfish here…”, Grant managed between breaths as he pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside.

“How so?”, I asked, grinding harder into his dick, watching in satisfaction as his eyes rolled back in pleasure and a moan escaped his throat.

His muscular torso reminded me of just how small I was in comparison to him. The sensation of his biceps flexing against my body was pure adrenaline, spurring me on as I kissed his exposed collarbone, nipping it gently and earning a growl in return before I pulled my shorts off and went back to grinding in only my panties and shirt.

“You’ve been on edge for days, maybe longer… you haven’t had the chance to please yourself… I have…”, he murmured huskily, “and here you are, grinding on me, pleasing me, when I should be the one making you feel good…”

The hand on my hip slipped down and squeezed my ass gently.

I didn’t realize it until he said something, but now it hit me that, while I was grinding on him, I had all but soaked through my panties wanting him.

“Grant, you have no clue how wet it makes me when I see how much I can please you…”, I keened softly, arching my back in a way that I knew was positively sexual.

“I want to make you feel so good… Will you let me?”, he asked, nibbling the shell of my ear.

I nodded my consent and he kissed me slowly. The hand on my ass moved down to the place where my legs were straddling him and his skilled fingers rubbed me through my soaked panties. The other hand drifted down and rested on my ass to hold me in place.

“Skye, you’re so wet…”, he growled.

A soft cry fell from my lips as he pressed the material to my clit, rubbing the sensitive flesh through the scrap of material that dared call itself underwear.

“Grant!”, was my only reply amid my vocal response to his precise touch.

I was gasping and whimpering as he rubbed me, alternating between long, gentle strokes, and firmer jabs. I was putty in his hands, craving more contact as I pulled my shirt off, not caring that I had taken my camisole with it and was now topless.

His eyes widened as I pressed my torso to his muscled chest and reached between our bodies to slip a hand into his shorts and stroke his hard cock against the material of his briefs.

“Skye… if you keep that up…”, he groaned.

I stopped stroking, not wanting to end him before we barely got started. I pressed my lips to a faint scar that ran along his shoulder, my tongue darting out to lap at it, tasting his skin.

“Damn Skye… the things you do to me…”, he moaned before he rolled me over so I was beneath him, his eyes flicking up and down my body, taking me in as I panted.

“Touch me…”, I moaned wantonly.

Grant immediately complied, sliding his hand down my body to the front of my soaked panties, watching me carefully. I shook my head when he teased my clit through my panties.

He pulled his hand away as if I had burnt him.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry…did I do something wrong? Are you alright?”, came the litany of his unnecessary apologies.

I cut him off with a searing kiss.

“Let me…”, I whispered, taking his hand in my own and guiding it slowly into my panties.

Grant allowed himself to be led and I showed him the maneuvers that made me surrender to the mounting pleasure inside of my body. He took over and I almost climaxed when he slid his fingers inside of my body.

He gazed at me as he slid his hand out of my panties and kissed down my body. I moaned in frustration until he pushed his fingers inside of my body again and then huskily asked, “Skye, are you close?”

I nodded and he began fingering me and teasing my clit.

My moans grew louder as he worked me over, pushing me to the edge of oblivion and keeping me there, delaying the orgasm that I so desperately needed.

“Grant… please let me come… I’m so close…”, I begged.

“Come for me…”, he growled, and with a twist of his fingers and a flick of the wrist, I was pushed over the edge.

It was like nothing I had ever felt before, an out of body experience almost. I heard myself crying in pleasure as Grant left a love bite on my collar bone. Every nerve ending in my body was on fire and I was burning, but it felt so damn good. I was unraveling, coming undone under his touch and his kiss. I arched my back off of the mattress and whimpered as he kissed my breasts, nipping the sides of them lightly to mix the slightest hints of pain with the immense pleasure I was feeling.

I breathed heavily as I drifted back to terra firma, my anchor being Grant Ward, the very man who had put me up in the clouds to begin with, now bringing me down to earth, back to our bed and his warm embrace.

Miles had never made me feel like this, then again he was always the selfish one, the one who always spurred himself to completion without letting me release and then not even bothering to get me off with after-play. Miles usually fell asleep or left after he was done with me and that’s why I bought my vibrator in the first place, to find release on my own time instead of being left high and dry when Miles would get up and leave after sex.

Not Grant Ward.

He knew how to be a tender lover and how to take me higher and bring me back again. He wasn’t rough with me, on the contrary, he was very gentle aside from the small bites. He treated me as if I was made of glass and that the slightest wrong move would make me shatter. At any other given time, I would tell him that I wasn’t fragile and that he could be a little more rough, but I couldn’t bring myself to say that now.

“Skye…”, he whispered, peppering feather light kisses on my lips, across my jawline, down my neck, and onto my clavicles.

I ran my fingers through his short dark hair as he rested his head on my chest, his eyes closed, a content smile on his lips.

Every loose or broken part of me was fixed and fastened into place when he opened his eyes at me and murmured, “There’s no place I’d rather be than right here, with you… just caught in this moment forever… Now I know what it means to feel, well, _happy_. I want to stay like this for the rest of my life…”

“Who knew that the Robot had a heart.”, I murmured softly, kissing him.

“I’ve always had a heart, it just started beating again because of you…”, he replied.

We laid like this for a long time until there was a knock at the door.

“Skye! It’s Simmons! Open up, I have to talk to you…”

“Shit, I should probably hide or something…”, Grant muttered. “Don’t want our business put out there…”

I looked around for any hiding spots and then whispered,

“Maybe you should stay in here, I’ll close the door and go out, okay?”

Grant nodded as I threw on my clothes and redressed.

Before running out of the bedroom, Grant wrapped me in his arms one last time and kissed me.

“Keep it together Rookie…”, he said with a smile.

I nodded and slipped out of his arms and out of the room, making sure I closed the door behind me.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever Simmons had to talk to me about wouldn’t be about the hot night she had had with Fitz.

I inhaled deeply and opened the door.


	7. First and Foremost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Super sexy FitzSimmons for you folks because I've been a slacker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any mistakes are purely my own. I do not own Marvel.  
> Hey guys, WE'RE GETTING SEASON TWO!!!!

* * *

**Simmons POV**

I raised my fist to knock one more time and then the door swung open.

“Simmons, hey, good morning…”, Skye said awkwardly as she welcomed me into her room.

I sat down in one of the chairs in her small dining area and adjusted my scarf that was hiding the evidence of  Leo marking me as his own.

“Skye, this may come as a shock to you, well, Agent Ward _is_ your SO… Anyway, he’s nowhere to be found. He isn’t in his room and he said he would be in the studio at eight for our lessons. It’s half past nine!”, I said, hoping that the she would have some idea as to where her own SO was.

Skye’s phone buzzed and she looked at it.

“Excuse me.”, she said.

I glanced around before I noticed a grey case on the coffee table and a black pair of men’s sandals poking out from underneath the sofa. Then I heard the muffled sound of water running, like someone was in her shower.

“Skye, who do these belong to?”, I asked, pointing at the sandals and the case. The water stopped running before I could comment on it.

She tapped something out on her phone and looked at me.

“Oh those, they--”, she began but was cut off by Ward emerging from the bedroom with wet hair and a towel draped about his shoulders. He wore a t shirt and black athletic shorts and went barefoot.

“Those are mine.”

“Agent Ward! There you are!”, I exclaimed and my body protested when I stood up faster than I had planned to.  To say that I was surprised by his sudden appearance would have been an understatement.

“Hello Simmons. Where’s Fitz?”, he asked, stepping into the kitchenette and washing off a red apple from the bowl of fruit on the counter.

“He went to look for you…”, I replied, pulling out my phone and texting him.

“Well, if he’s in the dining room, go down and join him. Skye and I will be down soon and we’ll eat breakfast. Then we’ll all go straight to the studio for lessons.”, Ward said before taking a bite out of his apple.

“Sounds good to me.”, I replied, tugging at my scarf before making my hasty exit.

When I got into the hall, I rubbed my abdomen and hips.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t sore from last night.

Well, I guess not having sex for quite some time and then suddenly having vigorous sex would definitely leave my muscles aching.

 I hurried down to my room to grab my dancing shoes and then left for the dining room, cursing myself for not having any aspirin to relieve my pain.

I used the mirrored wall panel in the elevator to fix my scarf and waited until the only other passenger had disembarked. Then I pulled my scarf off and looked at the dark red and purple love bites that stood out against my pale complexion.

Leo had marked me well.

I pulled a tube of ointment out of my small purse, broke the seal on it, and applied the cream to each mark.

“Please work…”, I muttered.

The ointment was one of my own successful experiments from a couple years ago and its intended use was to heal broken capillaries and make bruises vanish completely within minutes of application.

I hadn’t given it much thought until earlier this morning when I saw just how vivid the love bites really were and I hoped that it would still work after being hermetically sealed away in an unopened tube and being jostled about in the bottom of my cosmetic bag for ages.

  The marks did fade, but not completely. Instead of being dark red and purple, they were reduced to a lighter shade of maroon.

I sighed and ran my fingertips over the marks before pulling my scarf on again.

The marks didn’t hurt but it was like I could still feel Leo’s lips caressing them slowly like they had in the pale grey blue twilight of the morning.

The twilight that matched the color of his eyes.

I could almost hear him whispering my name in his rough, sleepy voice as he pulled me closer to his body.

He held me close and I had never felt more comforted by anyone’s presence in all my life.   

I was shaken out of my reverie when the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

Leo stood by the entrance to the dining room, looking normal as ever. He wore a blue button-down collared shirt (the marks I left on him were on his collarbone and therefore easily hidden), a blue striped tie, khakis, and black Chuck Taylor’s.

He waved at me and I bounced over to him with my shoe bag in hand.

“Well, don’ ye’ look lovely today?”, he said with a grin, “It’s not every day that ye’ wear a dress, but I must say,”, he leaned down and kissed me on my cheek, his lips lingering for a second, “Ye’ look as beautiful as always.”

I inhaled and got a heady dose of his Burberry cologne mingled with his aftershave.

“Thank you Fitz. Are you ready for today’s lesson?”

The smile on his face wavered a little and he nodded.

“Why aren’t ye’ using my firs’ name?”, he murmured so that only I could hear.

“Because we never use our first names in conversation with each other…”, I replied before hastily adding, “at least not in public.”

“True.”, he agreed. “So ye’ found Ward in Skye’s room? Do ye’ think that they slept together?”

“Well, Skye did look flushed and a little disheveled when she opened the door. She wasn’t breathing hard.”, I mused. “Ward was fresh out of the shower.”

“I wonder why he was in her room ta’ begin with…”, Leo stated before his face paled, “Oh damn…”

“What?”, I asked, worrying silently over the realization dawning on his face.

He pulled me into an empty side hallway nearby.

“I jus’ now realized that Ward had tha’ room directly next door ta’ mine.”, he whispered.

His statement hit me hard.

“Hotel walls are thin…”, I began.

“An’ las’ night, we weren’t exactly bein’ quiet…”, he added.

“What if he heard us? There’s no way we could write those noises off as us having a row or working on the DWARFs.”

“Forget about tryin’ ta’ pretend that we weren’t makin’ love last night, what if Ward reports us ta’ Coulson?”, he whispered urgently.

Now I was afraid.

“We broke the Anti-Frat policy… We’ll be separated for sure if Coulson finds out!”, I said, trying to keep myself from crying.

“Ye’ know that I’d never let that happen…”, Leo replied. “I’d end up fightin’ anyone that tried ta’ take ye’ away from me.”

He pulled me into his arms again, this time holding me tight.

“I love you.”, I murmured into his neck.

“I love ye’ too.”

We left the hallway as if nothing had happened and returned to wait patiently for our teammates.

Skye and Ward got off of the elevator and walked over to us.

“Shall we?”, Skye said and motioned towards the dining room before following Ward in.

We didn’t say much over breakfast, I was positively famished and Leo was eating ravenously, as he normally did.

We didn’t exchange words but there was certainly a bit of tension between all of us at our table.

Skye cleared her throat.

“Um, Ward has something to tell you two…”, she said, motioning towards  Leo and I.

The specialist looked at his rookie with raised eyebrows.

 “I do?”

“Yeah…”

“Maybe I should wait until there’s not as many people around to eavesdrop.”, he replied, a terse note in his voice, warning his rookie.

Skye nodded.

“Right, you do that…”, she replied, forking the last bites of her waffles into her mouth.

Leo looked at me as he sipped his tea, communicating his concern without saying a word.

I adjusted my scarf nervously.

“Since we’re all done here, maybe we should head to the studio…”, I said, breaking the tension as best as I could.

 “I agree.”, Ward said as he stood up and led the way out of the dining room. 

We got to the studio and found that Agent May and Agent Coulson had beaten us to the room.

They were currently listening to an upbeat jazz song while doing some sort of fast-paced swing dance. We all watched from the doorway in amazement as they executed each movement with a smooth and almost lethal air of precision, no doubt the result of many years of practice. Each lift was flawless and the dance was never broken with a messy landing.

The smile on Agent May’s face was genuine and the matching grin on Agent Coulson’s face was a clear sign that this was something that both of them had done with each other in the past, something that they did for fun. This was probably their first time dancing together since Coulson’s “death”.

If the two agents saw that they had an audience, they most certainly didn’t stop to acknowledge our presence, they just kept dancing.  

When the song ended, we all applauded.

The two agents turned and looked at us.

“So, what did you think?”, Coulson asked.

“Amazing AC, I had no idea that you and Agent May had a favorite pastime.”, Skye said.

“We do.”, May replied in an even tone as she drank out of her water bottle.

“With all due respect, why did you want me to teach them when you clearly know how to dance better than I do?”, Ward asked.

Coulson smiled and said, “Because you needed to brush up on your people skills and also because I’m not the young man I once was.”

“AC, you aren’t _old_!”, Skye said.

“I never said I was.”, Coulson replied, cocking an eyebrow at his young protégé (who was now red faced with embarrassment) and giving her a small smile.

 “We’ll leave you to your lessons.”, May said as she left the studio.

“Good luck.”, Coulson added as he followed May out.

When we were alone in the room, Skye immediately said, “Well let’s get to it then! I hear that the tango isn’t an easy dance to learn.”

“And you’d be right.”, Ward replied, hooking his phone up to the speakers. “Lucky for you and I,  we won’t be doing a vast majority of dancing.”

“So Fitz and I will be?”, I asked almost rhetorically as I changed my shoes.

 Ward nodded.

“Alright then. The tango is a very romantic sort of dance.”, he held out his hand to Skye and she took it, getting into the first position as if she were waltzing, “You can’t be standing at arm’s length like you were for the waltz…”, he pulled Skye against his body and I saw her blush again, “You have to be right against each other.”

Leo and I copied Skye and Ward.

“Like this?”, I asked.

The specialist shook his head.

“No, you both look too rigid. Loosen up a bit and sort of bring yourselves together.”, he instructed.

A million sexual fantasies came to mind as Leo pulled me against his body and I pushed them aside.

_Focus Jemma…_

“That’s still not perfect, but it is better than before.”, Ward commented.

He taught us the basic steps and Skye picked up on them easily.

This time, Leo and I were the ones who were struggling.

We still didn’t have the basic steps down twenty minutes later. I was getting hot under my scarf and I could tell that Leo was getting more and more frustrated with every attempt.

“There! You two finally did it!”, Ward announced as we nailed each step with an angry sort of determination. “Remember to stay loose… this dance is supposed to be very passionate and sensual. It’s a perfect opportunity to put the Noirs under the impression that all of us are in serious committed relationships, thus solidifying our covers.”

“What Wall-E here means is that the tango is pretty much hot sex in the form of a classy ballroom dance so act like it.”, Skye said.  

 “Way to put it bluntly…”, Ward muttered under his breath, “Skye is right though. Let’s try it with the music.”

After many failed attempts, Ward turned off the music.

“FitzSimmons, what’s going on today? Yesterday you guys were so good at staying in sync. What happened?”, Ward asked.

“I’m not cut out for this sort o’ thing…”, Leo began as he released me.

“Me too. I’m a biochemist, not a dancer.”, I added.

“You guys learned how to waltz in no time flat, so I know that you are capable of getting this right.”, Ward said, speaking over my reply.  

“Alright. Everybody stop!”, Skye yelled.

We all got quiet and stared at the hacker.

“I’m sick of all this tension in here. It’s time we all sat down, took a break, and discussed things.”, she continued.

“What things?”, I asked, feigning innocence as best as I could.

“I have eyes, I can see everything! Fitz is clearly nervous about something, I can tell by the way he isn’t looking anyone in the eyes. Simmons is obviously in pain which is why she’s not exactly moving fluidly and she’s nervous about something too. Ward, you’re uneasy because you need to tell FitzSimmons.”  

“Tell us what? What do ye’ need ta’ tell us?”, Leo asked.

Ward sighed.

“Well I’m sure you already know that I was in Skye’s room last night and that I ended up sleeping there.”

“Ye’ jus’ confirmed it, so yeah, now we know for sure…”, Leo stated.

“Right.”, I jumped in, feeling nervous, “Why were you in her room to begin with?”, I asked, trying to push the attention on to Skye and Ward.

“What were ye’ doin’ las’ night, Ward?”

“Sleeping on Skye’s couch because the walls in my room were too thin and my neighbors were too loud.”, Ward replied in a terse voice, taking a step towards Leo.

 “Woah, woah. Time out. Let’s sit down and take a breather.”, Skye said as she raised her hands and got between the two men.

We all sat down on the floor of the studio and sipped our water.

After a few minutes had passed, Skye spoke again.

“Okay. Now that we’re all calm here, let’s try this again.”

“What do ye’ need ta’ tell us?”, Leo asked Ward.

“I didn’t want to say anything since I knew that it would be embarrassing for both of you, but--”

“Jus’ get ta’ tha’ point already.”

“I heard you and Simmons doing it last night. I was right on the other side of the wall, I heard everything. I didn’t knock on your wall because I didn’t want to embarrass you, so I got up and went to Skye’s room. I was planning on sleeping on her couch.”, Ward confessed.

“He slept with me in my bed instead because I had a nightmare.”, Skye added.

 I found myself whispering a desperate plea,

“Please don’t tell Coulson…”

“Simmons… I’m in no place to rat you and Fitz out… even if I wanted to.”

“Why?”, Leo asked.

“Well now that we’re getting everything out in the open, I was in a friends with benefits relationship with May up until two weeks ago. Now I’m in an actual relationship with Skye.”

Skye nodded.

“Yeah, we even messed around this morning.”, she added, pulling her t shirt collar down a little and exposing a love bite, “See?”

“So you won’t tell?”, I asked.

“Your secret is safe with me- with us.”, Ward replied as he nudged Skye.

“And we won’t tell either.”, came a voice from the doorway.

We all turned around in surprise.

Coulson and May stood by the door.

“How long were you there?”, Skye asked.

“Three minutes before the yelling match began.”, May replied, clearly unfazed by everyone’s confessions, “Simmons, you look uncomfortable. Take off your scarf.”

I nodded and pulled it off, exposing the fading marks.

“What were you hiding?”, Skye asked.

“You can’t see the marks?”, I asked.

“Nope…”

“I guess my experimental ointment does work after all…”, I said with a shrug.

“AC, can we still have inter-team relationships?”, Skye asked.

“Yes, just as long as those relationships don’t interfere with your work.”

“Couldn’t you get in some serious trouble with Director Fury for granting us permission to ignore the Anti-Frat policy?”, Ward asked.

“I could, but Fury has told me, and I quote, “I don’t give a fuck who’s banging who as long as they don’t do it on my desk and the Council doesn’t know.”, he went on to elaborate further, but I can’t recall everything he said.”, Coulson replied with a shrug, “You’d be surprised at how many workplace relationships there really are within SHIELD.”

“So we don’ have ta’ file a bunch o’ relationship status change papers with SHIELD?”, Leo asked.

“No paperwork needs to be filed unless someone gets married or someone gets pregnant.”, Coulson replied. “Any and all marriages have to be approved by SHIELD first before the couple can file for a marriage license. The whole bureaucratic process takes about a year and a half before the wedding is even planned and then the planning takes another year… so you’d be looking at almost two and a half years of paperwork and SHIELD regulations after the engagement before you could even walk down the aisle. There’s also a lot of paperwork for pregnancies but it can be filled out fairly quickly in comparison to the marriage process…so use protection…You are using protection, aren’t you?”

All of us nodded simultaneously.      

“Good, now that you’ve all got that out of your systems, May and I would like to show you how to tango.”, Coulson said, “Ward, you must be out of practice because you were teaching them how to dance the wrong way.”

We paired up and Coulson began teaching.

Forty five minutes later, all of us were dancing and actually enjoying ourselves.

Leo and I had mastered (with May’s help) a few of the more advanced figures of the Argentine tango, including some of the moves that involved me wrapping my leg around Leo’s hips or leg and a few of the dips.

When we were dancing on our own, I tried out one of those moves.

I wrapped my leg around Leo’s hips, not a centimeter of space between our bodies, and my pelvis pressed against his as I arched my back.

He growled seductively in my ear in a voice that only I could hear.

“Chris’ Jemma are ye’ tryin’ ta’ turn me on?”

He dipped me with ease, my leg dragging on the floor as he brought me back up, just like May taught us.

My cheek went against his and I felt his stubble.

“Maybe I am… is it working?”, I purred, pushing my hips into his.

He whispered my name huskily, to which I replied “Are you going insane over me? Am I turning you on?”, I dragged my foot up his calf like I had in the decontamination shower, teasing him, “Do you want me now?”

“Yes, I am so tempted ta’ rip yer’ clothes off righ’ this second, get ye’ up against a wall, an’ have my naughty way with ye’…”, he replied, his Scottish brogue making every nerve ending south of my navel tingle with want.

“Oh really?”, I smirked as he pulled me close after spinning me around.

“Yes really…”

I wrapped my leg around his hip again and shifted my pelvis a little against his, silently grateful that he didn’t have an erection as a result of my teasing.

He hissed a little and the sound combined with his close proximity made me wish he _would_ rip my clothes off of my body, push me against a wall, and have his naughty way with me.

“Okay. Practice is over!”, Coulson announced as a group of ballet dancers entered the room and began stretching.

We left and then went our separate ways. Skye and Ward went to change into workout clothes and hit the gym for training, May decided to go and see how the BUS was coming along, and Coulson went to check out the library.

“So, what do ye’ want ta’ do?”, Leo asked.

“Well, I wouldn’t mind going for a swim in the pool, I packed a swimsuit and sunblock.”, I said as we walked past a large window and got a glimpse of the pool and the cabana.

“I packed my board shorts so we can go for a swim…”, he replied, leaning in to my ear, “Or we could go upstairs an’ finish what we started back in tha’ studio…”, he added in a husky growl.

“Leo, as much as I’d like to do that,  I must remind you about three things. One, we’re fresh out of condoms. Two, I’m feeling a bit peckish. And three…”, I said, purposefully trailing off at three to pull him into a hidden and dimly lit alcove.

“What about three?”, he asked.

I stood on tiptoe and replied seductively, pushing my hips into his,

“Three, my swimsuit is a navy blue bikini that Skye picked out for me when we were in Australia last week, it’s quite a racy little piece, if I do say so myself… I’d like to wear it at least once.”

I pulled back from him to see his reaction.

His irises were darkening and he loosened his tie.

“I think I had better go out an’ buy a couple packs of condoms… I have a feelin’ that we’ll be keepin’ each other busy in tha’ next few weeks… an’ I wanna be prepared…”, he replied.

“I don’t like being kept busy, but I think you’ll end up changing my mind…”, I said, running my hands down his chest.

“Jemma…”, he whispered, his eyes turning a shade of blue/grey that reminded me of last night.

I stepped closer to him and murmured, “Kiss me Leo…”

I was pulled against his body and he kissed me hard.

This wasn’t the gentle Leo Fitz that made love to me last night.

This was the possessive and rough  Leo Fitz that currently had me up against a wall in an alcove where anyone could walk in and catch us.

I didn’t mind this change in demeanor in the least, if anything, it made me realize just how exciting it would be if he actually _did_ take me up against the wall right now.

His tongue pushed its way into my mouth and I moaned softly as we broke apart.

_“Leo…”_

“Not here Jemma…”, he murmured, stroking my cheek reverently, “I jus’ needed ta’ get that outta my system, I’m sorry.”

“I liked that though…will you please be a little rough the next time we’re alone?”

He nodded.

“If that’s what ye’ want…anythin’ else?”, he asked with a smirk.

“As a matter of fact yes,”, I purred into his ear, “talk dirty to me… the way your accent can sound so sexual and possessive is a real turn-on.”

He pulled back and looked surprised.

“My accent? Ye’ don’ know what it’s like ta’ hear yer’ accent… Mine is rubbish, yer’ accent is perfection.”

“Well _I_ think that your accent is a turn on…”

“An’ _I_ think that yer’ accent will be my undoing…”

“Perhaps I should speak a little more.”, I whispered.

“Please do.”, he said, stepping closer to me and kissing me chastely.

“Maybe we should go get those condoms, yeah?”, I smiled and  he nodded as we intertwined our fingers and left the alcove.

* * *

**Fitz POV**

We had no trouble locating a nearby corner store and I bought two packs of condoms while Jemma picked out a few books of crossword puzzles.

We loved those things, even if they were simple to us, we needed a way to feel normal, especially when our minds were racing at the speed of sound.     

 We bought our items and left.

When we returned to the hotel, we decided to change into our swimwear, put some casual clothes over them, and have some lunch.

I gave a pack of condoms to Jemma, figuring that we should both have them available for when the mood was right.

We met in the hall and went down to the dining room for lunch.

We talked over lunch, which happened to be a traditional Filipino noodle dish.

“So what do you want to do later?”, Jemma asked as she sipped her water.

“You mean after we act like big kids and get into a splash fight in the pool?”

Jemma laughed and the sound was like music to my ears.

“Yes, after that.”

“I’d like to open up a pack of condoms and see how many rounds we can get in before passing out from sheer exhaustion.”

Jemma seemed to like that idea because she slipped a foot out of her flip-flop and ran her foot up my bare calf slowly.

“What do you want to do later?”, I asked her, trying my hardest to keep myself from shuddering as she teased me with her foot.

 _“Naughty lass…”_ , I thought. _“getting me all hot and bothered…”_

“I don’t know just yet, but if you’d be willing to try something new, I can think of a few things to keep us occupied…”

“What did you have in mind?”, I asked.

She leaned across the table.

“I’ve never brought a man off with my mouth before… I figured you’d be willing to let me make a first attempt.”, she whispered.

A mental image of Jemma on her knees worked its way to the front of my mind…

I knew she was very good with her hands, she knew just how to rub me the right way  (both literally and figuratively),  but I think her mouth on me would push me to cloud nine in record time.

“Of course…”, I replied.

We finished up our meal in near silence, sending each other the occasional look that spoke volumes.

Then we headed out to the pool and found two empty deck chairs beneath a large umbrella. The next thing I knew, I was transfixed on the sight of Jemma slowly lifting up and pulling off her sundress to reveal a very racy navy blue string bikini that covered her but didn’t leave much to the imagination.  

Luckily, I already knew and loved all her curves and edges, so I wouldn’t have to imagine.

She cast a sultry smile in my direction and handed me a tube of sunblock.

“I’ll get your back if you’ll get mine.”, she murmured before flipping her hair forward, turning her back on me, and casting a small smile in my direction.

I worked the lotion into her soft skin and pulled her body close when I was done, affectionately nuzzling her neck.

She giggled softly and then I turned around as she worked the lotion into my skin, carefully working it into the tender skin where she left scratches last night.

We passed the tube back and forth, applying the lotion liberally since we were both fair-skinned and would burn easily in the sun.

“So what do you think?”, she asked while we waited for the sunblock to sink into our skin.

“About what?”

“My swimsuit… is it good? Do you like it? Or is it too showy?”, she asked, wringing her hands together like she tended to do when she was nervous.

A few guys walked by our chairs and looked Jemma up and down a few times, slowing their stride to get a good look at my girlfriend.

They saw the dark, almost murderous look I was casting their way, averted their gazes, and kept walking.

“Yes, I like it… I don’t like all these men eyeing you up like you’re a fancy dessert though. Wish they would keep their eyes to themselves…”, I replied.

Jemma looked around and tried to see for herself if anyone was indeed ogling her.

Several young men at the Tiki bar waved at her and she turned back to me, blushing furiously.

“Do I really look that _bad_?”, she asked.

I laughed a little.

“ _Bad_? You think you look bad?”, I asked.

She nodded.

“Yeah… why else would they be eyeing me up? I don’t look _that_ good…”

“You’re beautiful.”, I murmured, “Absolutely beautiful in each and every way…”

She smiled at me and took my hands in her own.

“You know there’s a saying that goes something along these lines: a man can do one of two things; he can stand up and be the man his woman needs him to be, or he can sit down and let her see the man behind him.”, she murmured.

I brushed my rough hands over her soft petite hands and memorized every dip and edge of her palms.

“I want to stand up and be that man Jemma.”, I replied.

She placed a hand on my cheek and a smile pulled up the corners of her mouth,

“Oh Leo, you already have…You’re already that man, and I love you for it.”

She stood up and dropped the towel before kicking off her sandals and pulling her hair out of its ponytail.

I stood up and followed suit, toeing my dock shoes off and grasping her hands tighter.

“What are we doing?”, I asked her.

She didn’t reply.

Before I knew what was happening, we were running towards the edge of the pool like a couple of  carefree and lovesick teenagers.

“Ward told me you didn’t know how long you could hold your breath underwater!”, she replied.

We neared the deep end of the pool.

“I suppose it’s time I found out!”, I said and I grasped her hand tighter as we leapt from the side and took the plunge.

I opened my eyes when my feet hit the bottom of the pool and found Jemma blinking at me, a few bubbles escaping from between her lips every now and again. Her hair was a myriad of red, brown, and blonde and it floated around her head like a halo. Her pale skin made her glow in the sunlight and she looked so beautiful.  

Like an angel.

My angel.

She smiled and pointed up to the surface.

 _“We need some air.”_ , she mouthed and I nodded.

 We kicked off from the bottom of the pool and came up for air.

The men at the Tiki bar were still watching her as we surfaced.

We swam over to the pool’s edge and I hoisted myself out of the water to sit on the edge.

A few of the men were whistling and catcalling as Jemma hoisted herself onto the edge of the pool. Her face went red and she scooted closer to me.

“I’m not used to this type of attention…”, she whispered.

“Do you want to leave? I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”, I asked.

“No, I have an idea…”, she replied before she hid her face in my shoulder as one man walked by and called her “sexy lady”.

If looks could kill, that man would be a pile of ash right now.

“What’s your idea?”, I asked, still staring down the men who thought it was okay to ogle my girlfriend.

“How comfortable are you with PDA?”, she asked.

“Public displays of affection?”, I asked.

“Yeah, do you want to try it out?”, she whispered, her lips grazing my earlobe.

 _“Naughty, naughty, naughty…”_ , chanted a little voice in the back of my head as her teeth tugged on my earlobe gently.

“I’m willing if you are…”, I replied before capturing her lips in mine, cupping her face with one hand and placing my other hand on her thigh.

Her right hand curled around my bicep and her left hand acted as an anchor to keep her steady on the side of the pool.

We broke apart when we heard the whistles and catcalls that were now much louder than before.

I looked around, positively irked that those men had the _nerve_ to continue their gawking after I had made it quite clear that Jemma, _my Jemma_ , was taken.

I leaned towards Jemma and whispered,

“They just can’t take a hint, can they?”

“Leo, they aren’t focused on me anymore…”, she replied and I looked around to see that the men who were focused on Jemma not even a minute ago now gawking in the general direction of the pool area entrance, “Those men are Agent Ward’s problem now.”

Skye and Ward entered the pool area in their swimsuits, Skye in a purple two piece similar to Jemma’s and Ward in a pair of black shorts. When he heard the whistles, Ward immediately flexed his biceps, shot the men a “whistle one more time and you die” look, and a hush settled over them. I smirked as I looked at their surprised faces, knowing that if they were brave (or stupid) enough to continue, Ward would end up teaching them a lesson.

“Let’s join them.”, I suggested, moving to get up, but Jemma stopped me.

“No. They’re having a moment… let them be…”, she said and I looked over at them.

Skye was smiling as she applied sunblock to her face and Ward laughed as she said something funny before reaching over and saying something as he rubbed in a spot of sunblock that she missed. Skye took his hand and her fingertips traced his palm.

I glanced at Jemma and saw her staring wistfully at another couple and I followed her gaze.

The man and woman she was gazing at were clearly married, their wedding bands shining in the sunlight. The wife was sitting in a deck chair with her swimsuit on, a wide brimmed hat on her head, and a towel resting on her midriff. The man was sitting beside her and they were deep in conversation. The man looked at his wife the way I looked at Jemma, with love, pride, and respect.  

“Lovely isn’t it?”, Jemma asked softly.

“What’s lovely?”, I asked.

“The way those two look at each other. It’s like they wouldn’t be able to go on without the other. When she smiles, he smiles… it’s beautiful…”, she said. “It’s like the joy one of them feels is radiating into the other.”

“They must love each other a lot…”, I stated.

Jemma nodded in agreement.

She didn’t know how often I wished that the two of us were normal, and by normal, I mean able to live without SHIELD telling us what we could and couldn’t do.

If it wasn’t for all the bureaucracy, approvals, paperwork, and the threat of being separated, I would’ve been more open about my feelings towards Jemma during year four or five of our friendship and, if she would have reciprocated then, we probably would’ve been married and starting a family by now. 

During the Ossetia mission, I kept thinking about how I would probably never get to see her again, that I would probably die in the field. I would be regarded as a hero. My name would go on the Walls of Valor in the Academy and at Sci Ops.

The very thought of leaving her alone after I promised her in year one of our friendship that I wouldn’t stop being her friend was enough to tear me apart.

I had so many things I wanted to tell her now, so many things I could never say.

I wanted to tell her that I wanted to marry her, move into a house that had a lab in the basement in some obscenely quaint suburban part of the UK, raise a few children together, and just have it all for once. 

But I would never tell her that because I didn’t want to scare her off with talk of marriage and, God forbid, _children_. Our romantic relationship was still brand new and we had a long way to go before such topics were even mentioned.

It just seemed so natural, the way we seemed to come together. We already had our domestic  routines down, we were inseparable (because you can’t have _Fitzsimmons_ without _Fitz_ or _Simmons_ ), we were always on the same page, and we were known to argue like an old married couple. It just made sense, in my mind at least, that Jemma and I would end up together.

“Oh look, he’s quite a gentleman too…”, Jemma breathed softly, glancing back at me with a small smile.

I could just sense that her mind was moving along the same tracks as mine was; she was imagining how her life would be if SHIELD didn’t restrict relationships as much.   

The man offered a hand to his wife and she took it as she got up from her reclining deck chair, the towel that was across her midriff now put aside.

“Leo, she’s pregnant too… oh goodness, isn’t that perfect?”, Jemma murmured as she turned back to me.

“Yeah… it is…”, I replied, silently imagining Jemma being called “Mum” by a child that shared our features. The very same child would call me “Dad”.  I would be sure to be a much better man than my father ever was... I would never, _could never_ , willingly leave Jemma.      

“Leo… what are you thinking about?”, she asked softly, placing a palm against my cheek.

“I’m thinking about how much we’ve been through together, yet how much we still haven’t done.”, I replied.

It wasn’t lying.

We’ve lived together for almost six years now, we’ve been known as the singular entity “Fitzsimmons” for eight years, and it’ll be the ninth anniversary of our first meeting in August. Those things solidified my ultimate dream and aspiration of marrying her, being the father of her children, growing old together, and watching our children go off into the world to have children of their own.

That was my most secret dream, to always be her best friend and to someday become her husband.

When I thought of true peace, I thought of drifting off to sleep every night and waking up every morning for the rest of my life with Jemma by my side. Her smile would be the last thing I saw when I closed my eyes and the first thing I saw when I woke up.

“Let’s swim some more before we go inside…”, Jemma suggested before pushing herself off of the side of the pool and into the water.

She floated on her back and splashed me playfully when I sighed heavily.

“Oh so you want to play _that_ game, do you?”, I asked as I entered the water and splashed her right back.

She giggled and swam away from me, splashing me again.

“Catch me if you can!”, she called and dove underwater.

I followed her under, trying to catch her by her ankle, but every time I got close, she would dart just out of my grasp.

We came up for air and I wound up with her laughing in my arms. Her nose crinkled and her bright white smile sparkled in the sunlight.

“Jemma, you’ve heard me say it a million times, and I’ll say it a million more times; you’re beautiful.”

She still blushed and kissed me softly.

I nipped her lower lip like she had done to me the day before outside of my bunk.

She deepened the kiss and her tongue darted out to run along my lower lip.

If the water hadn’t been cold, I would’ve been pressing my hard-on into her hips.

That didn’t stop my heart from racing as she moaned softly into my ear.

“ _Leo I want you…so badly…_ ”

I kissed her neck and murmured back, “I want you too…”

“Maybe we can go back to my hotel room and finish what we started earlier…”, she murmured as we broke apart.

The next few minutes were a haze as we rinsed the chlorine off of ourselves in the deck showers while we shot each other teasing glances, grabbed our things, and hurried indoors.

We never stopped touching each other lightly and in an appropriate manner until we were alone in a corridor and I kissed her fully, my hands roaming over her body, squeezing her breasts and teasing her hardened nipples with my thumbs through the material of her sundress and swimsuit top.

She gasped at the contact and palmed my growing erection through my shorts as a response.

“Leo… talk dirty to me…”, she murmured in a low, needy plea.

“Do you like the thought of getting caught?”, I asked as I pulled her close, my hands  brushing up her inner thighs, lifting the skirt on her dress, getting closer to her with every stroke. “Does it turn you on?”

She nodded wordlessly before darting away from me and moving towards the lobby.  

 We made it to the lift without anyone stopping us and the lift was thankfully empty.

I mindlessly pushed her up against the wall and ground my hips into hers as her breathy moans filled the air and clouded my senses. I couldn’t keep my hands off of her and she seemed to like that a great deal.

“Does the thrill of possibly being caught make you wet?”, I asked, grinding into her hips.

“Ohhh….Yes…”, she whimpered desperately.

She was perfect.

When the doors opened to our floor, we broke apart just long enough to look around and make sure the corridor was deserted before I pushed her up against the wall by her door and sucked on the sensitive part of her neck.

“ _Leo…ohhh…yes…please… Good Lord… Leo…”_

Her soft desperate moans reached my ears and awakened one of my more primal instincts.

I wanted to see her orgasm, to hell with whatever pleasure I would get out of this, I wanted to please her.

I swiped her card and we tumbled into her room before she put the “Do not disturb” sign on the door handle and kicked the door closed behind us.

Before I could run my hands along her body, she placed a hand on my chest and held me at arm’s length.

I obeyed her immediately.               

“Just watch…”, she murmured sexily.

She would be my undoing.

 Her eyelids lowered and her irises darkened as she slowly began to lift her sun dress up and over her head, turning her back to me as she untied the strings on her swimsuit top while casting seductive glances in my direction. She held the material to her breasts with one hand until the last tie was undone. She  swayed her hips as she turned back to me, still holding the material to her breasts as she walked me back into one of her dining room chairs.

She rubbed the material over her aroused nipples and I felt my heart skip a beat when she made a noise of pleasure in the back of her throat.

I sat and she let her hair down before straddling my hips. She dropped her top and ground into my erection. Her soft sighs and moans were punctuated with the occasional sharp gasp.

“Damn Jemma… You’ve been a _very_ naughty scientist, haven’t you?”, I groaned as she kissed my neck.

She shuddered against me and gazed into my eyes.

“Yes Leo…For the past few years, I’ve been naughty… getting wet whenever I watched you work with your bare hands…seeking relief in my inappropriate thoughts and actions…getting so wet only for you…I’ve been a bad girl…”, she replied in a low, sexual purr, “Perhaps you can find it in your heart to forgive me?”, she asked, feigning innocence. 

“You know I could never find fault with you…”, I groaned as she slipped her hands under my shirt and pulled it off over my head before running her hands over my chest.

She stopped straddling me and kissed down my chest, her destination in mind. She knelt between my legs and palmed my throbbing erection through my shorts as she kissed my abs.

“Leo if you feel uncomfortable during any of this, don’t hesitate to stop me…”, she said as she untied the strings at the waistband of my shorts, loosening them up as she tugged them down.

“And if you feel uncomfortable at all, you can stop at any time…”, I replied, my words turning to moans as she took me in one hand and stroked me a few times before spitting into her palm and continuing.

_“Jemma…”_

I thrust into her hand before I fully decided that that was what I wanted to do.

The look she was giving me was so debauched and sinful and fucking hell, she could go from innocent biochemist to naughty minx in a heartbeat.

I looked down at her and then threw my head back, crying out in pleasure as she took me into her mouth.

Her tongue swept around the head of my dick and she hummed mindlessly as she gauged my reaction.

My hand flew to the back of her head, fisting into her silky locks as she ran her tongue up the underside of my shaft.

She hollowed her cheeks as I felt myself getting closer to the edge. She gazed up at me through her thick eyelashes and I gazed back at her.

She was enjoying this as much as I was and I almost came when I realized that she had one hand inside her swimsuit bottoms. Her other hand rested on my thigh and I grasped it as I squeezed my eyelids shut.   

I opened them again when I felt something slick on the lower part of my shaft.

The hand that was between her legs a moment ago was now stroking whatever she couldn’t take in her mouth.

I heard a loud groan and it barely registered in the back of my mind that _I_ was making all that noise.

I felt my release building at the base of my spine and I focused all my energy on not thrusting myself into her mouth and accidentally hitting her gag reflex.     

“Jemma… Jemma, I’m close...”, I moaned and she released me with a wet pop.

“Do you want me to finish?”, she asked seductively, pumping me a bit as she licked her lips.

I shook my head because I knew I wasn’t going to last much longer and she released me.

“No, but I do want to watch you finish…I want to see you come completely undone…”  I whispered, taking her by her hands as she stood, and pulling her into the bedroom.

I kissed her hard and tasted myself on her tongue as we walked into the bedroom and fell on the bed. She pulled me on top of her and moaned as I teased her breasts, kissing and caressing her sensitive nipples and licking her sternum.

“ _Leo please…”_ , she begged.  

She somehow lost her swimsuit bottoms in the process, but I didn’t mind.

I began kissing every inch of bare skin my lips could find and her moans became breathier and her heartbeat became more erratic as my lips skimmed down lower. Soon, I was kissing her hip bones and she had one hand curled into my hair as I stole a pillow and placed it under her hips.

I glanced up at her and she gazed lazily back down at me with lidded eyes and an aroused smile on her face. I lifted her right leg onto my shoulder and pressed kisses down the inside of her thigh, getting closer to her center with every kiss.

“ _Leo…”_ , her moan reached my ears and I heard how needy she was.

I lapped at her clit experimentally to see how she would react.

The reaction I earned for that simple act was enough to drive every thought that was not related to Jemma Simmons from my mind.

She arched her back and breathily moaned my name as her hand tightened in my hair.

I found that I quite liked her reaction, so I took her clit into my mouth and slipped a finger into her silky wet heat.

She gasped and whimpered as I teased her clit with the tip of my tongue, sucking lightly on it and humming as I felt her quiver and shake. I slipped a second finger into her entrance and she cried out.

My fingers curled inside of her and hit just the right spots.

I could feel her tensing up like a rope that was about to break and I looked up at her.

Her eyes were closed, her mouth was open and forming a perfect “O”, she was blushing, her hair was fanned out around her head, and the hand that wasn’t holding onto my hair for dear life was fisting the sheets.

“Leo, I’m so close…”, she moaned and her inner walls fluttered and clenched around my fingers as if to prove her point.

I growled, knowing how much it would turn her on, “Come on… Come for me….”, and twisted my fingers in just the right way, hitting the bundle of nerves on her upper wall and bringing her to her orgasm.

 Her eyes flew open and she screamed, literally _screamed_ , my name as she came.

Watching Jemma, _my Jemma_ , fall over the edge was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. When she came down out of the heavens, I moved back up her body and kissed her gently on the lips as I pulled the sheets over our tangled mess of limbs.

 _“Leo…”_ , she murmured breathlessly as I touched my forehead to hers, gazing deeply into her brown eyes. She gazed back and all I could see was pure, raw, emotion.

“Yes love?”, I replied, nuzzling her cheek with my nose as I brushed my thumb along her jaw.

“The box of condoms…it’s in the side drawer…”

I nodded and  grabbed the box, pulled out a condom, ripped a wrapper open, and tried not to come as she took the condom and  rolled the latex onto my shaft.

I settled over her and she nodded as I went to ask her if she was ready, not wanting to hurt her like I had yesterday.

I pushed into her slowly, holding her gaze as we both gasped.

 She kissed me slowly and the passion between us smoldered like the coals in a fire after the main blaze has diminished. The heat and the emotion are still present, but the energy is slowly fading.

I found her hands laying on either side of her head, palms raised towards the sky, and slipped my hands into them, intertwining our fingers.

She was pure perfection and I moaned her name into her mouth.

We stopped kissing for air and I opened my eyes to find her staring back at me. I pressed my forehead to hers and softly chanted her name like a prayer.

She was moaning my name in a soft, breathless voice.

I never thought I would ever like hearing the way my first name sounded until I heard Jemma moan it for the first time. Now that she was whispering it over and over again as I thrust into her slowly, I found myself wishing that she would call me “Leo” all the time.   

 _“I love you, Leopold Fitz… I love you…”,_ she murmured, her eyes shut.

I was silently approaching my release and I told her that I was close.

She opened her eyes and I saw every one of her emotions, felt them for myself, and the sheer force of  being able to connect with her on such an emotional and physical level was like a tidal wave breaking on the shore.

 _“I’m-I’m gonna…”_ , she barely managed.

“Come on Jemma…”, I murmured, thrusting into her one last time as she emitted a soft, strangled cry.

_“Leo!!”_

She came as I stilled within her, feeling like my soul had left my body as I felt her walls convulse around me.

I followed her, plummeting to the earth as I groaned her name.

And then it was over and my bones felt like they were made out of gelatin. I pulled out of her and somehow found the energy to pick myself up and dispose of the condom.

I laid back down next to her and she nestled against me, curling right into my side as aftershocks assaulted her body. The occasional quiet intake of breath punctuated the silence and was always followed by her trembling slightly.     

She was panting softly and I kissed her hair as she came back to me.

“Leo…”, she whispered as she nuzzled into my neck affectionately, kissing my skin as she went.

“I love you Jemma… more than anything…”

“I love you too Leo.”

We laid together for a long time in silence. Her head was resting on my shoulder, her soft fingertips absentmindedly tracing complex chemical bonds on my chest while she laid in the crook of my arm.

It was perfect and I wanted to stay like this forever. Just the two of us tangled in the sheets, hidden away in a place where SHIELD didn’t matter, in a place where we could be together.

Her breath soon slowed and she cuddled closer to me.

“Promise me one thing Leo.”, Jemma murmured as she took my hand and kissed the back of it.

“What’s that?”

“That you’ll never leave me.”

I kissed her head and she scooted up my body to kiss me properly.

I cupped her face and stroked her cheek with my thumb as I gazed into her eyes.

“You have my heart in your hands, love. I’ll never leave unless you tell me to go. ”

She placed her forehead against mine, her brown eyes staring into my soul.

“Then I guess you’ll never go because I’ll never tell you to leave.”, she kissed me softly and pulled back to whisper, “I love you Leo and I always will.”

“I love you too Jemma.”

I kissed her again and moaned in surprise when she deepened the kiss.

“What was that for?”, I asked when we broke apart, not complaining but just curious.

She smiled seductively.

“I thought you wanted to see how many rounds we could go before passing out from sheer exhaustion?”, she purred, her hand wrapping around my already half-hard cock and pumping it a few times.

I smirked back before rolling her over and she gasped.

“Oh, I do.”, I growled huskily, "Trust me Jemma... I do..."

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment!


	8. When Words Fail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the month without an update. RL happened (school, final exams, SATs, you get the idea) and I lost my muse there for a little while.  
> Any and all mistakes are my own and I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Skye POV**

I stood outside of Grant's hotel room and tapped my toes on the floor.

He wanted to have me over for dinner as it would be our last night in a nice hotel for a while and that meant our last night without having to cook for ourselves. Unless something highly unlikely happened while we were in Paris, like Director Fury contacting us and telling us to maintain our covers.

After tonight, we would go back to living out of the BUS until it needed to get more repairs and another tune-up.

I was glad to go back though. It felt weird (but in a good way) to suddenly have all of this luxury thrust onto me after living out of an old van for close to four years and then living out of the BUS for the past few months.

I knocked on Grant's door and smoothed down the floral printed button-down blouse that I had paired with a pair of black jeans and my boots.

Before he answered the door, Simmons's door opened and Fitz stumbled out into the hall.

He was looking disheveled to say the very least.

His hair was messed up, he had his shirt on inside out and half tucked into his swim trunks, and he carried his dock shoes in his hand.

"Christ Fitz, what happened to you?", I asked rhetorically while trying to hold in my laughter.

He looked up at me as he fumbled for his door card and got this deer-in-the-headlights look as he blushed.

"Oh, hello Skye… fancy seein' ye' at this end o' tha corridor…", he stammered.

I knew he had just been with Simmons and so I didn't press the topic, I just told him that I was having dinner and told him to have fun with Simmons.

He smiled and swiped his card before staggering into the room.

I shook my head and chuckled to myself.

He and Simmons were made for each other and now they both knew it.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Grant opened the door and smiled warmly at me.

He wore his black leather shoes, a pair of dark jeans, and a forest green dress shirt with the top two buttons open in a slightly casual display of his comfort without killing the mood of this nice little dinner date we were having.

"Hey, don't you look lovely? You going somewhere?", he asked jokingly as he uncorked a bottle of wine and handed me a glass before sitting down on the sofa next to me.

I shrugged, playing along with him as I sipped my wine.

"Eh, no, it's nothing special, I'm just having dinner with this insanely good-looking guy who is so perfect and wonderful. We're flying to Paris tomorrow for Valentine's Day. Is that romantic or what?", I replied with a fake nonchalant tone.

He smiled, placed his wine down on the side table, and replied.

"I guess I should give him the shovel talk… After all, I'd hate to lose you to some guy who doesn't deserve you."

I placed my wine down next to his and leaned close to him.

"I think he's plenty deserving and if I didn't know better, I'd say that you were jealous."

Grant closed the distance, pausing to whisper at my lips before kissing me slowly.

"Of course I'm jealous, you're perfect."

I placed my hands on his biceps and felt them flex beneath my grasp as he deepened the kiss.

We broke apart when someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?", Grant asked, pressing his lips to my nose gently, smiling when I wrinkled my nose at him and laughed softly.

"Room Service.", came the reply and Grant got up to answer the door.

The guy at the door pushed a cart of food into the room and made quick work of setting the table and lighting a couple candles before leaving the cart and instructing Grant to simply leave the cart with the dirty trays and dishes on it in the hall outside his door when we were done and ringing for room service to take the cart away.

"Enjoy your meal and have a good evening.", he said as he left the room.

We sat down and Grant spoke as he uncovered one of the pans.

"I remember you saying that one of your favorite dishes was beef lasagna, so I ordered some… I hope I didn't hear you wrong…", he said as he cast a smile in my direction, "They serve literally everything here, so if you don't like it, I can send it back for something else."

I loved it when he smiled and I could tell that this relationship was important to him.

I knew it was important to me because it was the first real relationship I had actually been  _happy_  in.

With Miles, I was always fighting to have a say in things, always fighting to be heard, to be understood.

With Grant, I knew that he would ask me for my input, listen, and (at least try his hardest to) understand me.

It was the little things, like him remembering what my favorite foods were, that made me love him.

_I love him. This wonderful, thoughtful, lonely man. He needs me as much as I need him._

"No, you heard right… Beef lasagna is one of my favorites…", I replied, spooning some onto my plate, "and you got breadsticks and marinara sauce too?"

I put some of those on my plate too along with a helping of garden salad.

"Yeah. I figured that since you've been working and training hard, you deserve a good meal… besides, I get tired of eating the same old stuff on the BUS along with the scent-free food that everyone has to somehow stomach if they're on a deep-cover combat mission…"

He served himself and I was about to dig in when he lifted his glass to me. I paused and mirrored him, lifting my glass.

"Here's to you, Skye. I hope you can find your place in this world and that, wherever that place may be, you'll end up being happy there.", he nodded towards me and went to drink but paused when I began to speak.

"And here's to you, Grant. I hope you can get the dream house or close to it one of these days. I hope you'll be happy too."

We drank and began eating.

"So Skye, what dance do you think we should try to learn next?"

I turned the question over in my mind a few times before replying.

"I'd like to get a better grasp on the dances we've learned so far before trying anything new."

"Sounds good to me."

We finished up our meal, making small talk. I asked him about what other shows he performed in and he told me that he played minor roles in  _Annie_ , he played the part of J. Pierrepont Finch in _How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying_ , and that he played Lord Banquo in Shakespeare's  _Macbeth_. He also sang in the chorus at many other musicals.

He asked me if I ever had a job in a town or city that I liked and that I wanted to stay in. I told him that before I met Miles and moved to California, I had had a job in the suburbs around Plano, Texas as a waitress and assistant at a retirement community.

"So how was that?", he asked.

I thought for a while before replying.

"The managers treated me very well. The residents did too and most of them asked me to sit and keep them company since their families never visited them. I was told stories of WWII, how it was to grow up in the 20s and 30s, how it was to live and raise a family during the Cold War era, and how life changed drastically with the rise of technology. There were old schoolteachers there that taught me about life lessons that I wouldn't have learned in a classroom. I learned how to mend my own clothes, cook a few meals, and how to substitute over the counter medicines with herbal remedies that worked just as well as anything in a drugstore."

"It sounds like you had an eye-opening experience there.", he remarked.

I nodded and continued.

"It was a good paying job too, and I loved talking to everyone. Some of the older women there told me that I reminded them of themselves, their daughters, or granddaughters when they were my age. A few of the residents even knew about my financial troubles and did what they could do to help me, whether it was letting me live in one of the spare rooms in their condo for a few days while my van was in the shop for service, letting me use their washing machine and dryer when I didn't have enough money to go to the Laundromat, or even doing something small like giving me a few dollars.", I said.

"I bet you miss them.", Grant stated as he scraped the plates and put them back on the cart.

"Yeah I do miss them sometimes, but I know I'm better off here because I'm not struggling to make ends meet and living out of a van parked in some alley."

"True.", he stated as he cleared the table, "Well, that was it for dinner… If you want dessert then we can always order some up…"

I smirked at him, poked him in the bicep, and joked,

"Hey there T1000, I thought I wasn't supposed to cheat on my workout diet and I'm pretty sure that breaking your diet would cause one of your circuits to short out."

He smirked right back at me behind the kitchen counter where he was washing his hands.

"I don't know Rookie, sometimes this Robot needs something other than motor oil and red meat to keep him going…", he dried his hands and walked over to me.

I met him halfway and wrapped my arms around his midriff, hugging him and he hugged me back.

He held me close and I felt him press a kiss to my hair.

"What do you want in life?", he asked quietly.

I thought for a second.

"Well, I've always wanted a pet of some kind, preferably a dog…", I replied, knowing that his question could have been perceived in many different ways, "I also thought that being a mother would be nice, whether adoptive or biological, it wouldn't matter much to me. I just want to be able to have a couple children and give them the childhood that I never had. I wouldn't be prepared to be a mother today or even next year, but once I'm a few years older and I have some stuff sorted out, I think I'd want to be someone's mother."

"You'd make a great mother.", Grant murmured. "I'd be willing to bet that you'd want your kids to get good grades but you wouldn't put a lot of pressure on them to be straight A students. You'd be the type of parent who likes having fun but knows when to be serious."

"Thanks…", I replied before pouring myself some more wine and sitting down on the sofa.

Grant joined me, sitting so that he could face me.

"So, Grant, what do you see yourself doing in fifteen years?", I asked.

"Well, let's see. I'll be in my late forties, so I'll probably still be a specialist. I won't be doing as many assignments, if I'm any good, they'll want me to be a trainer at the Spec-Ops Academy."

"Wow, you'll be dedicated to the cause.", I remarked.

He nodded.

"Or I could retire early. Who knows, maybe I'll have a home of my own by then. I'll plant a little veggie garden or get a dog, it'll be great…"

I smiled.

"You'll probably have grey hair by then…", I added with a laugh.

He smirked at me.

"Fine, laugh all you want… so what, I'll be old and I'll look old too…"

The mental image of Grant Ward with some wrinkles and silvery hair came to mind and I grinned some more.

"Nah, you won't look old, you'll look dignified and experienced."

"Sure…", he said with a grin. "Hell, I might actually be settled down by then."

"Do you want kids?", I asked, sipping my wine.

The smirk left his face and I knew that fatherhood was a delicate subject for him.

"Well, I  _do_ want kids, I just don't think that I'll be a good father…", he paused and looked down, "The idea of being someone's father is kind of scary…"

I noticed that I had struck a nerve, so I scooted closer.

"Why is it scary? You don't think you'll be ready?", I asked softly, taking his hand in my own.

"It's not really a question of my preparedness, it's more a question of if I'll end up turning into my father.", he looked me in the eyes and I could see the fear there, "I don't want to become a copy of him."

"Why?", I asked quickly but then regretted it, "Never mind, don't ans-"

"My father was a horrible man.", he blurted out, cutting me off.

"Grant…"

"After my mom died, my dad used to get drunk… you know this…", he sighed, "What you don't know is that my father would bring home women and sometimes they would make him mad and he would beat them… He would beat us for trying to talk some sense into him…"

My stomach twisted painfully at the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"I don't want to be like him… I don't want to be  _bad_."

I moved closer to him and placed a hand under his chin, lifting his face up so I could look him in the eyes.

"Hey, listen to me, you  _aren't_ bad…", I said.

"How can anyone who has known nothing but hatred and evil all his life be anything  _but_ bad?", he asked quietly.

I thought for a moment before replying.

"You know what hatred and evil feel like and you know how they present themselves. Since you've known those things your whole life, maybe you'll have a better chance at not repeating those actions that made your father a bad man."

"But how do I be  _good_?", he asked.

"Grant, don't you see? You  _are_  good."

He let out a soft, short, sarcastic laugh.

"Tell me then, how am I so good?"

"Well, since we met, I've noticed that you'll avoid killing enemies, even if they are terrible, horrible people. You took me under your wing and have been extremely patient with me during training. You jumped out of an airplane  _without_  a parachute on and saved Simmons's life, something that everyone, especially Fitz, is grateful for. You rescued me at Ian Quinn's mansion on my first mission and forgave me for lying about the Rising Tide. There is good in you… If only you could see what I do, then you would believe me."

Grant searched my eyes and kissed me.

I could almost taste the fear he was trying so desperately to hide.

I kissed him back with the intention of calming him down and ensuring that he knew just how much of a good man he was.

He needed to know that there was good in him.

I could help him believe.

He deepened the kiss and tangled his fingers into my hair, pulling me closer to his body.

He broke away for air and searched my face again, this time cupping my cheek with his hand and stroking my skin with his thumb.

"You're good Skye…"

I looked at him and whispered, "So are you…"

"I've done bad things…"

"That doesn't make you a bad person."

He shook his head and muttered, "But what if I hurt you? I'll never be able to forgive myself if that happened."

I wanted to know more about why he thought he was so bad and why he thought he was going to hurt me. Somehow I just knew that it wasn't only because of his father.

I almost asked him why he thought he was going to hurt me but he got up and walked to the window instead. He looked out into the gathering darkness and into the last rays of the setting sun.

I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Grant…", I began softly, "Why are you so afraid of hurting me?"

He didn't meet my gaze.

"Growing up, I never had a good role model to follow. I never saw what a healthy relationship looked like and I was ridiculed for showing my emotions, either by my father or by Maynard. Sure, I had friends in high school and all, but I wouldn't show them my emotions all the time. I stopped showing my emotions when I got to the Spec-Ops Academy. I didn't want the other specialists or my superiors to think I was weak. I was taught to keep my emotions in check… I was taught  _not_ to feel. And…", he trailed off to sigh.

I gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"And?", I asked, prompting him for a response that I may or may not get.

He looked at me and I saw how truly broken he was.

"And now that I'm with you, things are changing…I'm starting to feel things that I want to feel, and I want to express these feelings and emotions so badly, but it's hard because it's going against who I was raised and trained to be."

I took his hands and led him back to the sofa.

"Have you ever really been in a relationship?", I asked softly.

"No.", he replied, "You'd be the first real girlfriend I've ever had."

"So this whole thing with me…is this your first actual date?", I asked.

"Yes… I've had to take marks out on dates before, but that was just me doing my job, there was no real emotion.", he replied.

"You can tell me how you feel… I won't judge you for it."

"I don't think I'm ready to do that just yet…", he said, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously, "Just telling you all that was kind of hard for me to do… I hope you don't think I'm being rude by not saying anything else…"

"It's 100% fine to feel that way… We'll just have to take baby steps, that's all.", I replied, patting his knee.

He looked at me with a small smile.

"We?", he asked.

I hugged him and murmured, "Of course… Do you honestly think I'd let you do this alone? It's hard enough that you've lived for thirty one years with all of your emotions just bottled up inside of you…", I pulled back and looked him in the eyes, "I'm going to tell you the honest-to-God truth, okay?"

"Okay."

I took a deep breath, about to share with him how deep my own emotions ran for him.

"I care about you… I really do, and I hope that someday you'll be able to see how much you are needed and how grateful I am to have you with me. I hope that you'll start to believe that you  _are_ a good man and I…", I trailed off and steadied myself before continuing, because he had to hear this and I had to say it, "and I hope you know how much I love you."

His eyes widened and my heart almost stopped.

I could've just fucked up and ruined every bit of progress I had just made by telling him that I loved him.

He looked like he was about to break down and cry, and I wondered if anyone ever told him directly that they loved him.

He closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry Grant, it just came out and I- "

"Skye…", he said quietly, cutting me off.

" _Here it comes… He isn't ready for this yet… Ugh, Skye, I swear to God you are such a fuck-up!"_ , my conscience yelled.

Then he did something unexpected.

He opened his eyes and pulled me close to his body.

"Can you repeat the last part of what you said?", he whispered in an even tone, one that didn't allude to any emotion.

I was scared.

"I'm sorry-", I began.

"No, no, no…before that…", he murmured.

"I love you.", I replied and he pulled me closer.

I felt him smile against my shoulder.

* * *

**Ward POV**

"I love you.", she murmured and I could tell she meant it.

I wanted to tell her that I loved her too, but somehow couldn't.

What sort of a man could feel love and express love physically but shy away from three little words? Those words were word I knew, but they weren't just words I could let roll off of my tongue.

I was a damn coward.

_She told me how she felt… why the hell can't I just tell her?_

"Skye?", I asked.

"Yes?", she replied and I pulled back to meet her gaze.

"Will you think any less of me if I said that I can't tell you how I feel just yet, but that I can show you?"

She looked at me for a second and said, "Of course I won't think any less of you… Remember what I said about having to take baby steps? You can do what you feel up to… I won't force you. If showing me is easier, then show me. When the time comes and you're ready to tell me, I'll gladly listen."

I nodded and moved down to her end of the sofa and kissed her, hoping that I was expressing my emotions better with actions than with the words that would've surely failed me.

She made a soft noise of pleasure in the back of her throat and I deepened the kiss a little, wanting to hear her make that noise again.

She did and then she leaned back, laying down on the sofa.

I broke the kiss off and she gave me a satisfied grin, one that sent my heart racing and left me feeling weightless. She stretched and I threaded my fingers through her long hair.

I closed my eyes as she lifted her hands to my face, tracing my features gently before kissing me.

I needed her, and I don't mean in a purely sexual way (although our time together earlier was still fresh in my mind). I needed her as a friend and as a companion. As someone who could pull me out of my dark past.

As someone who could protect  _me_.

I felt myself groan a little as Skye pulled me down onto her and I deepened the kiss.

I propped myself up on my elbows so I wouldn't crush her and I began to trail my kisses onto her jaw and then slowly onto her neck, smirking a little when she gasped.

I wanted to show her how I felt for her and that would involve more than just me kissing her now.

I looked up and made eye contact with her.

"May I… I mean, would you let me-?... That's not right either… I'm sorry… Do you want to, you know, take this to the bedroom?", I asked and shook my head as I climbed off of her and stood up.

_Christ, what's wrong with me?_

"That came out wrong…", I said, looking away from her, thoroughly embarrassed as I paced.

"It's okay… just say whatever you have to say…", Skye reassured.

"Do you want to have sex?", I asked and then regretted it, "Sorry, that sounded like I'm desperate…I'm not… I just need your consent before this goes any further… I don't want it to be 'just sex' because I feel the same way, I just can't say so…", I rambled.

"Yes.", she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yes? To everything?", I asked, making sure I hadn't heard her wrong.

She nodded.

"I understand that you can't say it now and it's okay. You do what you can. Remember, actions speak louder than words.", She replied sagely.

She stood up and placed both of her hands on my chest before gazing into my eyes and stating, "Grant Douglas Ward, I love you with all that I am and there is no place I'd rather be than right here in your arms."

I found myself kissing her a second later.

I deepened the kiss when she pressed herself against me and threaded her fingers up through the hair at the base of my skull. I trailed my hands down to her butt and lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around my waist and her arms went around my neck as she nipped my lower lip.

I heard two dull thuds behind me when Skye kicked off her boots and then she pressed her heels into my backside. I stopped kissing her to blow out the candles on the table and then I carried her back to the bedroom, laying her down as gently as I could.

The low lighting in the room cast deep shadows and made Skye look like she had an air of mystery about her, which she did, as none of us knew where she truly came from. She laid on her side and her position emphasized her hourglass figure.

I knew that look on her face, the seductive smirk paired with the gaze that was reminiscent of a predator watching her prey with a surprising softness in her deep brown eyes, it would be just another one of the many things about her that I absolutely adored.

I kicked off my own shoes before placing my wallet and phone on the bedside table and I crawled onto the bed to be with her. She moved so she was sitting with her legs tucked neatly beneath herself. She began unbuttoning her blouse and I began doing the same to my dress shirt, silently thankful that I hadn't tried to unbutton her blouse because I would've surely made a fool out of myself with the way my hands were shaking.

_Calm down Grant, you don't want to be the type of man who can't say "I love you" as well as the type of man who suggests sex and then gets so nervous that he can't unbutton a goddamn shirt._

I shrugged off my shirt and threw it aside as Skye tossed her own shirt aside, leaving her in her jeans and a lavender colored bra that pushed her breasts up to a point where they threatened to spill over the lacy lining of the cups. The love bite I left on her that morning was still there and I felt a buzz of possessiveness in my stomach knowing that I had marked her.

She followed my line of sight and trailed her fingertips over the love bite while capturing her lower lip between her teeth.

It was one of the hottest things I had ever seen, and my nerves flew out the window immediately.

"God you're gorgeous…", I breathed before capturing her lips in my own and running my fingertips up her torso.

I started at her belt and then reached around her to see if I could undo her bra but I faltered and she giggled when I discovered that there wasn't a clasp in the back.

I pulled back, utterly confused as to how to go about getting the sexy, yet offending piece of clothing off of her without a hook in the back and Skye, sensing my confusion, said softly, "Grant, there's a clasp in the front.", before reaching down below her cleavage and baring her breasts in one fluid motion.

I took the straps off of her shoulders and gradually worked them down her arms as I began to press kisses down her neck to her collarbone, mouthing the tender skin where I had marked her earlier, making her hand tighten in my hair as she gasped before I dropped the lacy bra onto the floor. I felt myself harden as she pressed her breasts to my chest.

"Skye…", I murmured, the end of her name turning into a groan as she began working her hips in lazy circles, grinding against the tent I was pitching in the front of my pants.

She kissed me hard as I unbuckled her belt and unbuttoned her jeans, pulling the material off of her hips and she stopped grinding to pull her jeans off the rest of the way.

"We're uneven…", she murmured as she unbuckled my belt and pulled my pants down. I groaned again as she rubbed me through my boxers.

Soon I was even with her and I dared myself to look down.

She was still grinding against me but I noticed just how much the friction was turning her on, after all, the only thing she had on at the moment was simply a pair of barely there lavender lace panties that were soaked with her arousal.

I nuzzled into her neck and whispered, "May I?", to her as I placed my thumbs on the waistband of her panties.

"Please…", she murmured and I pulled her panties down, taking my time to run my fingertips down her smooth legs and smiling when she whimpered a little at my slow pace. I flung the final article of her clothing aside and allowed myself this chance to finally see if my fantasy version of Skye was anything remotely like the real Skye.

My fantasies didn't do her justice.

Her curves were fuller in reality, she had a faint scar from where her appendix was probably removed, and she must've noticed my roving eyes because she was biting her lip and blushing when I looked at her face. She ran a hand through her hair and smirked at me.

"We're still uneven…", she said and I went to take my boxers off but she moved closer and whispered in a voice smoother than silk, "Let me…", and her chocolate eyes were smoldering with passion and love.

She tugged my boxers off and a funny look crossed her face.

"What are you smirking about?", I asked as she threw my boxers aside.

"Well, you remember when you went on that undercover mission wearing those spy glasses?", she asked as I pulled her close to my body and let a groan escape my throat when she curled a hand around my length.

I nodded.

"Well, Fitz asked me to cheat for him when you played poker that evening, because my bunk is just behind where you were sitting. He forfeited when I told him that if I did use the backscatter feature to look at your cards, I'd also see him naked."

"So that's why he ran away…", I muttered, trying not to lose control.

"Yeah, but after he was gone, I used them to see through your clothes…", she confessed, "You were quite impressive…oh God…", she gasped as I ran my thumbs over her aroused nipples before pinching them lightly and causing her to shiver.

"That was for spying on me…", I murmured, noticing that my voice had become huskier as a result of her foreplay.

"Touch me Grant…", she moaned softly as her breathing became labored.

I slid a hand between her legs and felt a jolt of pride move through me as I found her absolutely drenched.

I rested my forehead on her shoulder.

"Skye…", I groaned as she began pumping my length in a slow rhythm.

Her soft gasps were making me go a little crazy and I teased her a little before she moaned, "Grant please…"

I slid two fingers into her and worried her clit with my thumb as she rode my hand. She made the most incredible noise when I found her g spot and her hold on my cock tightened.

I wasn't going to last much longer if she kept that up and she must've had the same thought in mind because she pushed my hand away and asked me if I had protection.

I knew what she was asking for and so I leaned over to the bedside table, opened my wallet, and pulled out a condom.

"Are you clean?", I asked.

Skye nodded and laid back on the mountain of pillows, "I'm also on the birth control pill. Are you clean?"

"Yeah.", I replied as I fumbled with the condom wrapper.

Damn me and my habit of biting my own nails…

"Here, I'll get it.", Skye said as she ripped open the wrapper and pulled out the condom, handing it to me and I rolled it on swiftly.

I crawled on top of Skye and kissed her slowly as I lined up with her before looking into her eyes and asking if she was ready.

She nodded and I sank into her.

I realized when I was buried inside of her that I wouldn't last long at all.

She was perfectly tight, wet, satin and I hoped I could hold out long enough for her to reach her orgasm before letting myself go.

"Grant… you can move… I'm f-fine.", she whimpered softly and I noticed how she was blushing profusely.

I set a steady pace that was slow enough to keep her on edge but one that wasn't punishing for either of us.

Skye shifted her left leg, moving it so that it was wrapped around my waist. I watched her as I thrust into her and her eyes rolled back as she emitted desperate little sounds that drove me higher.

_"Oh… Grant…yes… Right there… that's p-perfect..."_

The noises she was making were positively sinful and they drove me insane but I felt euphoria at the same time when she tightened her feminine muscles around me.

"Deeper…", she gasped and I complied, lifting her right leg onto my shoulder and both of us moaned unintelligibly as I slid further into her. Her eyes were closed and the blush that had been just dusting her cheeks a few minutes ago was now spreading and tinting her whole body a light pink.

I began moving faster and she arched her back off of the mattress as she moaned my name.

My thrusts were becoming more erratic and she just kept getting tighter and closer with every thrust.

Then I got an idea and pulled a pillow out of the pile near the headboard and growled, "Arch your back.", into her ear. Skye whimpered and obeyed. I placed the pillow under her arched back and began grinding into her core. This new position made her toes curl and her legs quiver.

She writhed around and keened as she shook, her hands fisting the sheets until her knuckles turned white.

" _Grant… harder p-please…"_ , I went harder and she cried out, taking her right leg off of my shoulder and wrapping it about my waist, her heels digging into my ass as she pulled me close,  _"… Oh God…deeper...Fuck…Grant…"_

"I don't know how much longer I can last…", I said, surprised at the way the words came out sounding dark and rough.

" _I'm soooo close…."_ , she cried and her nails raked down my chest.

I hissed lightly at the pleasure-pain and growled her name as my own completion drew nearer.

I thrust into her body two more times and on the third thrust, several things happened that I won't easily forget.

I bottomed out and no longer knew where I ended and she began, her eyes flew open, her hands seemed to move of their own accord, and she moaned my name as her walls clenched like a vice around me. She was shaking and the sheer force of her orgasm was enough to bring about my own.

I half collapsed onto her and emptied myself before quickly coming back to my senses and pushing through my mindless haze to Skye and how I was still buried deep inside of her. She was still shivering and whimpering beneath me and I began to thrust into her again, hoping to push her into a second orgasm.

A few thrusts later and I had her screaming and clenching up again. I was completely spent after we were both sweating. I pulled out of her and laid next to her while I got my bearings and caught my breath.

Skye laid back on the pile of pillows and breathed heavily with her eyes closed, her limbs were splayed on the mattress. Every now and then, she'd have an aftershock pass through her sensitive body and she'd shiver as she emitted a quiet moan.

Even when her hair was messed up and she was covered in sweat, she was still the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.

I rolled out of bed and disposed of the condom and cleaned myself up with a tissue before I turned to find Skye settling under the duvet and lazily fluffing the pillows behind her. She smiled and presented the perfect image of a sexually satisfied woman.

I slipped in bed beside her and faced the ceiling, hoping that Fitz hadn't heard any of Skye's very vocal responses to my actions.

Her voice from earlier echoed in my head,  _"Actions speak louder than words."_

Skye curled up against me and, even though there must've been half a dozen pillows on my bed, she chose to use me as her pillow. She cuddled up against my side and kissed me softly.

"Grant Douglas Ward, I love you.", she said, giving me a relaxed and sated smile before yawning sleepily and placing her head on my chest and closing her eyes.

I stroked her silky hair until she drifted off to sleep and was still stroking a long time after that, simply wondering what I had done to deserve the love of this amazing, caring, vibrant, strong, smart, and outspoken woman.

I felt myself falling asleep to the gentle sound of her breathing and then the words were on my lips.

"I love you Skye."

I was pretty sure she couldn't hear me, but she smiled softly as she slept and she snuggled closer to me as I closed my eyes, finally at peace with myself.

I whispered it again.

"I love you."


	9. Back In The Air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets back on the BUS and they leave the Philippines. Oblivious to the rest of the team, FitzSimmons are in the lab running experiments of a more personal nature...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for this "I'll post a chapter every month" ordeal. RL is kicking my ass and at this rate, I hope to be done by Valentine's Day 2015 (that's sarcasm, folks).  
> This is a really long chapter to make up for a month without updating, so bear with me.  
> As usual, all mistakes are my own.  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or Agents of SHIELD.

* * *

**Fitz POV**

I was deep in a dreamless sleep when I was jolted awake by Jemma jumping out of  bed, naked as the day she was born, and yelping, “Shit, it’s almost ten in the morning! We’re gonna be late and then we’ll be in trouble! Wake up Leo!”.

I closed my eyes and grumbled.

I wasn’t a morning person and I was never truly awake until I was through two cups of tea.

But Jemma threw a pillow at me and I bolted upright.

My eyes shot open and I swore loudly as I looked at the digital alarm clock on the bedside table.

I tumbled out of bed, also buck naked, and I scampered to pick up my board shorts and undershirt from the day before. I tried to ignore the fact that I had morning wood, figuring that it would go away on its own in the shower.

 “Leo, do you have a change of clothes with you?”, she asked as she pulled a fresh change of clothes from her bag and laid them out on the chair by the bathroom door.

“Of course I do woman! You know how I feel about doing the walk of shame.”, I replied, smirking at her.

“Quick! We only have a half hour to shower and then another half hour to dress and be in the lobby. I’m already packed. How about you?”

I let out a short bark of laughter as I collected my bag of clean clothes and followed her into her bathroom.

She started the shower and I hopped in behind her before replying, “Jemma, I never even unpacked…”

We showered quickly and I tried to avoid facing Jemma in the small space, standing to face her only while her back was turned, and it worked out well until she turned around and went to reach for the hotel soap in the soap dish that was set into the corner behind me and kind of ran into my raging hard-on.

She backed away, blushing beet red as she soaped up and rinsed off and I helped her wash her back off, before we traded; I gave her the shampoo and conditioner and she passed a clean washcloth and the body wash to me.

“I can turn on the cold water if you need me to…”, she murmured a few minutes later as she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair

“No it’s fine, it’ll just go away on its own… eventually…”, I replied, working a lather over my body and stepping under the water to rinse off.

“Well we don’t have much time left… and I don’t know how long it’ll be until the next time we’re alone like this…”, she murmured and I could tell by her tone that she was getting an idea.

She turned around and fixed me with a seductive glare and I knew what she wanted.

The next thing I knew, she was pressing the length of her smooth, conditioner-slick body against me before threading her fingers through the wet curls at the base of my skull. Her lips attached to my neck and she sucked gently at my pulse.

I let my head loll back as I groaned, exposing more of my neck to her hungry lips. She pushed me back against the wall in the shower and I bit back a growl. The cool tiles were hard against my back while her soft body moved heatedly against my front in all the right ways. The sensation was driving me insane as the forces of heaven and hell battled for dominance on my skin.

She kissed up to the juncture where my neck and jaw met and dragged her teeth lightly over the sensitive skin there and I let out a ragged breath before she nibbled gently on my earlobe and whispered, “Thank you for last night…”.

I shuddered at her tone, her usually prim and chipper accent was gone, replaced now with something low and full of desire yet smoother than silk. Hearing her speak like that while she was running her petite hands all over my body and pressing herself against me stirred up one of my more basic and primal needs.

I hissed as she raked her nails lightly up the front of my thighs, getting so close to where I needed her and then moving away to run her hands over my abs.

_Naughty minx._

“What do you want Leo?”, she purred, pressing the swell of her breasts to my chest.

My hands were pressed against the back wall of the shower and my eyes were closed as I breathed heavily and unevenly.

I was hard as hell and knew what I would to do to her if I was in control. I would bend her over the counter where the bathroom sink was and watch myself fuck her from behind, I’d want to grasp her thick tresses in one hand and tug gently on them as I slid in and out of her rapidly, forcing her to look in the mirror and watch me please her. I’d want to lay claim to her and be rough. She’d already expressed her desire for me to be a bit rougher and more possessive, I’d only be fulfilling her wishes.

She could get whatever she wanted from me at any time.

I had fallen so deeply for her that I didn’t mind the way we were all over each other like horny teenagers who’ve just discovered the intoxicating thrill of almost getting caught in the act, the exciting rush of feeling another person coming undone because of something you did, or the addicting depth of looking into another person’s eyes and knowing that they had fallen in love with you just as deeply as you had for them.

I knew that my favorite thing to do with Jemma was to just hold her and to just _be_ in love with her; no wild sex, no burning desire, not even a spark of sexual passion. Although those things were really good too and I liked them, I could be happy just sitting on the sofa or being tucked away with her in one of our bunks, watching Doctor Who or a Disney movie while she snuggled against me under a blanket. As long as I was with her, that would be enough for me.  

But right now, she was in control. I was painfully hard for her and she was kissing that sensitive part of my neck again.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t want what she was offering but there was a fine line between just enough and too much, and she was pushing me into a sensory overload.  

I was burning but it felt so good.

I opened my eyes and gazed at her. Her eyes were darker, her lips were parted and a bit swollen from kissing me, and rivulets of water ran over her shoulders and down her chest to disappear between her breasts.

She kissed me on my lips and then trailed her lips and hands down my body, looking up at me through thick eyelashes as she went.

“Jemma… You don’t have to do this…”, I groaned as she hit her knees and massaged a hand gently over my length, causing chills to roll down my spine.

“I want to do this…”, she murmured and I watched as she traced the throbbing vein on the underside of my shaft with her hot tongue, moving from tip to root and back again.

A moan threatened to break free but I grit my teeth and rested my head against the shower wall as she kissed the tip of my cock and then swirled her tongue around the head before taking only the head into her mouth and sucking it gently.

“Good lord…”, I groaned as she took more of me into her mouth and cupped my balls.

I knew I wasn’t going to last much longer when she began taking all of me and sliding the flat of her tongue along the underside of my shaft before pulling off of me just far enough to swirl her tongue around the head.

“Jemma….”, I murmured softly and my voice was drowned out by the sound of water streaming against tile as I felt my release building at the base of my spine, growing tighter and tighter as she hollowed her cheeks and began to hum tunelessly, taking me in deep.

The water beat a rhythm onto the both of us and I plunged my hand into her wet hair as she bobbed on me, just trying to grasp something, _anything_ , to keep me sane and steady.

“I’m gonna…”, I barely managed to gasp out and she gazed up at me before pulling me out of her mouth.

“Do it Leo… right in my mouth… I want you to…”, she purred and then pulled out all the stops, doing everything that I liked.

 _“Jemma!”,_ came my strangled cry and I watched, transfixed, as she took all of me out of her mouth except the head and I came, pulsing on her tongue as I panted.

She swallowed and stroked me a few more times after my release and then got up and gave me a sultry smile.

I was still recovering and her tongue darted out of her mouth to recover a drop that she missed.

It was so unlike her to be this way but it excited me all the same, especially when she kissed me and I tasted myself on her tongue, now _that_ was a real turn-on.

I wanted to return the favor and go down on her before we left but I knew we had to hurry if we wanted to make it to the lobby on time, so I had to push that thought away. I had to focus on overcoming the heady rush of endorphins that left me in a blissed-out state of mind so I could dry off and get dressed.

Jemma was blushing beet red again and I asked her when I caught my breath, “Are you ashamed or embarrassed because of what you just did? Because believe me, you shouldn’t be…”

She replied as she turned off the shower and stepped out, “Well, I’m not really ashamed or embarrassed, I’m sort of nervous because you were making all those noises and I don’t know if you liked the concept of finishing in my mouth or me swallowing or if you thought it was too dirty and out of character for me to be doing… I-I’ve never had much experience with oral sex so I’m sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable…but you finished me last night _twice_ using only your mouth and hands and once without even touching any of my erogenous zones! All of it was amazing for me, so I wanted to return the favor and hopefully help you get some sense of how good you made me feel last night…”.   

She squeezed the water out of her hair and patted the rest of her body down with a towel as I dried myself off.

“Well,”, I began, “what you did was amazing and…and I can’t quite find the words to express how it felt, but it was a very, _very_ , good feeling.”

Jemma blushed a little at my compliment and I began getting dressed as she brushed her teeth.

“What did you think of me taking charge like that? Was it too bold?”, she asked around a mouthful of toothpaste, an undertone of worry clouding her mind and getting her flustered.

She was always worrying about something, but seeing her revert back into her normal self and shed the  persona of the alluring temptress was something that made me see how much I really loved her for everything she did.

I gave a short huff of laughter as she finished up and left the bathroom so I could relieve myself  while she got dressed.

“Jemma, between the two of us, you’ve always been the more dominant person, even before we were in a romantic relationship.”, I replied as I busied myself with running a towel through the unruly curls  that Jemma loved to play with so much and watching them bounce into place, smiling at myself in the mirror as I recalled the time shortly after I met Jemma when she asked me if I used product to get my hair to curl. She was so jealous when I told her it was naturally like that and muttered something about “Boys having it easy.”, or “He’s got the good genes.”.

I brushed a hand along my jaw and decided that I could skip shaving for today. 

“Me? You must be kidding.”, she laughed in surprise as I heard the rustle of fabric, the distinctive snap of elastic on her skin, followed by the slippery sound of silk rushing over silk (she was probably putting on one of her neckties), and the zipping up of a suitcase.

“No,”, I replied as I pulled on my boxers and my vest, “you’ve always been the one to suggest things… You get the most brilliant ideas and concepts for new things and I just spitball off of your ideas to improve them. You always suggest we try new things and I go along with them because you’re a leader, I usually end up enjoying it anyway, probably because I’m with you. You suggested that we join the team when I was perfectly content to stay in one place…I’m glad I followed you out of Sci-Ops, it feels like we’ve been able to do so much more in the real world than we were ever able to accomplish from our time tucked away in our lab.”

“Well I guess I am like that, but I’ve never really noticed it much… I mean, in terms of our romantic and physical sexual relationship, do you think I assert myself too much?”, she yelled over the noise of her hairdryer.

I pulled on my socks, trousers, dress shirt, and trainers before beginning to tie my own necktie.

“That’s a bit of a loaded question… I’m not really sure how I should respond because I like you being assertive but sometimes I want to take the reins and see how it feels to be the more dominant one… especially since you told me you wanted me to be a little rougher and more possessive yesterday…”

I came out of the bathroom just as Jemma pulled her phone off of the bedside table, accidentally knocking over her glass of water and spilling it on her pants.

“Oh shit…”, she swore as she pulled off her wet trousers and pulled on a skirt from her suitcase, “So I suppose a balance between us would be the best way to ensure that I’m not always asserting myself and that you’re not always just going along with whatever I say.”

I nodded as I collected my clothes from yesterday off the floor and put them into my bag.

“Jemma, I have to go throw a few things into my bag, you have the DWARFs already packed up and ready, so I’ll run down to the lobby, get a luggage trolley, and come back.”

“Sounds like a plan.”, she replied and I turned to leave the room when she called out, “Leo!”.

I turned around and she shouted, “Think fast!”, and tossed a granola bar at me, which I caught.

“Ah thanks Jems…”, I said, not realizing how famished I was until now.

She smiled and I left the room.

In the hall I fumbled for my key card and when I went to swipe my card, a loud noise startled me and I dropped it.

Ward’s room door opened and Skye tumbled out in an unkempt state.

Her hair was a frizzy mess, her eye makeup was smudged around her eyes, her clothes were rumpled, her blouse was buttoned crookedly and she held her boots in one hand.

She looked at me with wide eyes and a positively ridiculous expression on her face.

“Oh hey Fitz…”, she said, trying to play off the fact that she was clearly embarrassed by her appearance and I tried so hard not to laugh but I just couldn’t stop myself from letting a weird snort of laughter escape my body.

“Don’t laugh.”, she said, “and this,”, she gestured to her unkempt appearance, “you didn’t see any of it. If someone asks you if you saw me leaving Ward’s room you tell them no, capisce?”

I nodded and entered my room, remembering that she most likely didn’t say anything about my messy appearance in the hall last night, no matter how funny it was to her. She probably knew by my expression that I was mortified and was kind enough to not say anything about it to Ward, so I would do the same for her.

I threw my bags together and packed up whatever I had actually taken the time to unpack, which only really included my toiletries and my mail.

I rushed back to the lobby, got a trolley, and brought it up before doing one final sweep of my room to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind and then piling my luggage on.

Jemma came out of her room and put her bags onto the trolley and Ward emerged from his room next door to mine toting his single black duffle bag.

“Oh, good morning Ward…”, Jemma greeted as we stood by the lift.

To anyone who didn’t know who we were, seeing the three of us (Jemma and I looking small and insignificant compared to Ward’s commanding presence) next to a huge pile of luggage on a trolley must’ve looked quite odd and somewhat humorous.

We pushed the trolley over the threshold and the doors were just about to close when Skye ran up to the doors yelling, “Wait!!”, frantically.

Ward put his foot in the door and Skye tossed her bags in haphazardly as she mumbled her thanks.

“For a second there… I seriously thought… I was going to be late…”, she managed between breaths.  

“Don’t worry, Rookie, you made it on time. I’m sure Coulson and May are waiting for us in the lobby.”, Ward said as he checked his watch before leaning over and planting a kiss on Skye’s cheek.

Seeing Ward engage in **any** PDA was an odd sight to behold but there was something about the way Skye smiled at him and there was something subtle conveyed in the way Ward gazed at her that just made me stop and look at them as though I was witnessing a feat of science never before seen by the eyes of men.

But I had seen that look often enough.

 I saw it in Jemma’s eyes whenever she smiled at me. I saw it in the passing glances that May and Coulson would send each other when they thought nobody was watching them (it’s no secret; everyone knows that those two have feelings for each other. Skye, Jemma, Ward, and I even placed bets on who would tell who first). I  saw the look in every candid picture featuring Jemma and myself.

Skye and Ward were in love with each other and it couldn’t be more obvious.    

We got off the lift and, to our surprise, May and Coulson were nowhere in sight.

I sat down with Jemma on one of the sofas in the lobby and we chatted back and forth about inane things (we couldn’t discuss our work because we didn’t know if anyone was eavesdropping). All through our conversation about which American beer was the best and which one was the worst, my mind was on a single memory of last night.

I forgot which round we were on (it may have been our last round just before we slept), or how late it was, but all I knew is that the bedside lamps were on so low that they cast a dim glow over the bed and Jemma, _my Jemma_ , was moaning luxuriously as she writhed around beneath me.

The duvet had been kicked to the foot of the bed and the air around us was heated by our amorous actions.

Jemma was beautiful in the dim light; her naked body moved with mine and she pressed her arse to my erection and ground up into it slowly, her hands were grasping the sheets, then the pillows as her hair fell to one side of her head in a beautiful mess of dark waves. Her back faced my front and she laid on her belly as I dropped feather light kisses onto the shell of her ear. I had a few errant strands of her smooth hair wrapped about my fingers as I mapped every centimeter of her skin with my lips, kissing across her scapulae, pressing a row of hot, open-mouthed kisses along her shoulders, nuzzling her tattoo with my nose as I kissed it, and whispering “I love you” into her ear before listening to her whimper unevenly as I gently dragged my teeth languidly down the length of her spine, starting at the base of her skull and ending just above her tailbone and relishing in the way she trembled delicately beneath me.

“Leo? Are you listening to me at all?”, Jemma asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

“Sorry Jemma…I was thinking about…”, I lowered my voice and leaned into her ear, “last night.”

She blushed and whispered, “Which part?”      

“When I kissed you all over and took my time…”, I whispered back.

She placed a hand on my lower thigh and smiled at me before responding.

“You know, after what happened in the shower this morning…”, She lowered her eyelids, “I can’t wait until we’re alone again…”

“I s’pose I can get you back then…”, I replied, mirroring her facial expression.

  “Ready to go?”, Coulson asked as he joined us in the lobby.

“Yeah, but sir, where is May?”, Ward asked, looking around before hefting his and Skye’s bags onto his shoulder with ease.

“Right here…”, May said as she walked inside, “I’ve got the SUV waiting out front.”

Soon we were checked out of the hotel and on our way back to the base.

The car ride was silent until Coulson asked how our covers were coming along.

There was an awkward silence followed by incoherent mumbling from all of us about how we hadn’t really been keeping up with the covers.

“Well consider it your new job. Once you have those covers solidified, combine them with the dancing. Remember, this cover could be the difference between life and death, so make sure it’s  flawless.”, Coulson said as we pulled into the cargo hold of the BUS and unloaded.

“Wheels up in an hour.”, May said as she went off to the cockpit.

I unpacked quickly and went down to the lab. I found the folder about the mission and the packet containing information about my cover and leafed through it while I waited for Jemma to join me.

My cover was simple enough to remember.

_Name: Cody Alexander Barclay. Gender: Male.  Age: 26. Hometown: Glasgow. D.O.B.: 29 December, 1987. Family: Mother named Lucy, Father named Colin (father is deceased, mother never remarried), no siblings. Relationship Status: in a SERIOUS RELATIONSHIP with Lydia Fredericks (Cover for Agent Jemma Simmons). Occupation: Accountant._

The packet went on to describe things like where his cover went to school, what he does for a living, and so on, but there was nothing in there describing how his cover and Jemma’s cover met. Nothing on their relationship aside from it being serious.

Jemma entered the lab with her own folder and began looking through her own packet.

“So anything good in there about Mr. Cody Barclay?”, she asked after a few minutes.

“He isn’t too interesting if that’s what you mean.”, I replied, “Does it say anything in your packet about how our covers met?”

“No but maybe we can compare them and figure out a story behind their relationship.”

I nodded and we compared our covers.

“They didn’t attend Uni together, they don’t hold jobs in the same line of work, they don’t live in the same city… They don’t even like the same things…”, Jemma said as she looked between the two packets.

“They both like dancing.”, I supplied.

“But that’s about it.”

Jemma sighed.

“What are we going to do? You know I can’t make up things without getting too into the details.”, She muttered.

Lydia Fredericks was a photographer and some of her shots had been used for magazines but she could handle photo shoots, candid shots, landscapes, and more.

Cody Barclay was an accountant who handled people’s finances.

How on earth were two people like that supposed to meet and click?

And then it hit me.

“I have an idea.”

* * *

**Simmons POV**

I tilted my head to the side.

“Well, I’m listening…”, I said.

“Maybe, an’ I’m jus’ sayin’ maybe, Skye an’ Ward’s covers played a part in makin’ introductions… Maybe Skye’s cover… er… whatshername… Ronnie Ford… maybe she set us up!”, he replied.

“What about Ronnie Ford?”, Skye asked as she and Ward entered the lab.

“Fitz and I were trying to figure out how our covers met and he said that maybe your covers had something to do with it…”, I explained.

We all began comparing covers and found out that Ronnie Ford, Skye’s cover, was a model and that Nick Jones, Ward’s cover, was a cosmetic surgeon. Using that knowledge to our advantage, we formulated a backstory for how all our covers met.

Ronnie broke her nose in a car accident and it was set poorly, resulting in her nose being healed crooked. Ronnie thought her career was over until she got a nose-job from the tall, dark and handsome cosmetic surgeon, Nick Jones. Ronnie and Nick hit it off and began seeing each other. When Ronnie got an offer to model in Glasgow, she decided to bring Nick along as her boyfriend.

The photographer for the photo shoot was Lydia Fredericks and she got to talking with Ronnie and Nick in between the sets. Lydia’s friend Sara (who doesn’t really exist) from Uni lived in Glasgow in the flat across the hall from a very handsome accountant named Cody Barclay and Sara decided that, while Lydia was in town, she would set Cody and Lydia up on a date.   

Lydia agreed, in the hopes that Sara would stop trying to set her up with people if she humored her this one time. Ronnie and Nick were wondering where a good pub was and so Lydia asked them if they would like to come out with her and meet Cody Barclay.

They all had a great time and that’s the totally fake story of how our totally fake covers met.

We all agreed on this and then Skye and Ward decided to go off and practice their backstories, leaving Leo and I in the lab to practice ours.

We took a break during takeoff to eat and then went back down to  the lab to work on a few things.

I had my iPod plugged into the speakers and I began singing along softly to Yellow by Coldplay. It was my favorite song and I was surprised when I heard Leo join in on the refrain.

I looked up and found him smiling at me and I felt myself blush because it seemed like he meant every word he sang and I had a feeling that he did.

He came over to me and held his gloved hand out to me.

“May I have this dance?”

I placed my own gloved hand in his and laughed softly at the look of deep admiration in his eyes.

He placed a hand in the small of my back and pulled me close when he began swaying.

We were both wearing our protective eyewear and lab coats but I don’t think Leo noticed, and if he did, he didn’t say anything about it.

Maybe he was thinking about how this moment felt right and natural. We were in our comfort zone and not doing anything to hide our emotions.

His eyelids slid shut and he placed his forehead on mine, our noses brushing together. I closed my own eyes and lived in the moment. I admired the way his body fit perfectly against mine as if we were made for each other. and I inhaled his scent; solder, Burberry, something crisp like the way the earth smells after a spring rain, and something exclusively Leo.

I nested myself in his arms and opened my eyes to find his gaze upon me. His eyes were always changing color but now that I could study them closely, I found that, for now at least, they were ocean blue with flecks of silver and steel mingled in.  

A smile pulled up the corners of his mouth and he murmured, “Ye’ have a lovely singin’ voice.”.

“Thank you.”, I whispered as I felt myself blush.

“An’ yer’ so pretty when ye’ blush.”, he said.

He pressed his lips to mine and kissed me, starting out gently and then progressing to something more heated.

A thought broke through the haze and I pulled away from Leo abruptly.

He looked worried, like he was afraid he had done something wrong.

“Did I do somethin’ wrong?”, he asked.

I shook my head, “No, definitely not… It’s just that… well… we’re in the lab and there are surveillance cameras in here… Maybe having some privacy would be nice…”

Leo nodded, “Ah, yeah… sorry, I kind of forgot about them… Hang on…”, he turned back to his workbench and began tapping away on his tablet.

“What are you doing?”, I asked.

He replied without glancing up, “Jus’ give me a sec… I’m takin’ the footage of us workin’ on other projects… an’ I’m gonna set it on a loop… that way we can have a bit o’ privacy.”

“But don’t they have microphones too?”, I asked.

“Nah, Skye showed me how ta’ do this scan where it’ll point out any recording devices… I scanned the lab before an’ didn’t find any mics… but they could’ve installed them when the BUS was bein’ repaired, so I’ll check again…”

I looked towards the doors and walls of the lab and wished that they weren’t made of glass.

I tried to refocus my attention on my  work but it was difficult, especially when I thought about the last time Leo and I were in the lab.

I glanced over at my brand new test tube holder and blushed to myself when I thought about what could have happened if we hadn’t broken anything.

_We could’ve done more than just feel each other up, that’s for certain._

I shook my head, trying to get my mind off of the fact that everything I did seemed to always lead back to me and my heightened libido.

For years, I had been perfectly comfortable with my reality of not having any sort of physical intimacy. I didn’t want to be seen as a trophy for men because I was a virgin, so I made the decision and went all the way with my boyfriend one night before I left for the states so many years ago. Now I didn’t regret my choice, but I sometimes wish I had actually lost my virginity to someone who cared about me a little more. Now, after years of not being intimate with another person and relying on my own hands to do the trick when I felt the urge, suddenly my body wanted to play some silly game where I’m always aroused. It’s like my body is making up for lost times.

I sat down behind my desk and chewed the inside of my lip. Even thinking about being aroused made my knickers cling to me.

“Alrigh’ Jemma, the lab is mic free…”, Leo said and I tried to ignore the feel of him looking at me, busying myself instead with rolling my chair over to the table that held my equipment and adjusting the slide on the stage of my microscope before viewing the specimen.

The microbes bounced around madly on the slide and I knew that they had it easy. There was no arousal for them, just asexual reproduction when necessary. How simple that must be.

I shifted forward on my chair and let a quiet gasp escape my mouth as I crossed my legs tightly in a vain attempt to alleviate some of the pressure caused by my heightened arousal and maybe gain relief.

Then I jumped a little when I felt Leo’s hand on my shoulder.

I had no idea he was this close to me.

I swiveled around on my chair and came face to face with him.

“Ye’ wanted some privacy?”, he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh… yes. I suppose I did…”, I replied, noticing how my voice had changed a bit.

Now someone like Skye who has only known me for several months wouldn’t have noticed such a minute change but  Leo knew me so well and, naturally, he noticed immediately.

“Jemma, is everythin’ okay?”, he asked.

I uncrossed and crossed my legs again. I couldn’t lie to him, he’d see right through me.

“Yeah, I’m f-fine.”, I replied, looking down at my hands as I mentally cursed my inability to lie.

He inhaled deeply and sighed.

“Jemma, I know you’re not bein’ honest an’ it hurts when ye’ lie ta me.”, He pulled up a stool and sat on it, “Now can ye’ please tell me what’s wrong?”

I rubbed my thighs together and tried to reply.

“Well, the thing is I’m not…no, that’s not right, I’m just very…er…”

“Take yer’ time…”

I sat there and tried to explain my confused emotions and feelings but all my attempts were in vain.

After a few minutes of nonsensical stalling, Leo got off his stool and knelt down in front of me, placing a hand on my knee.

I tried to ignore my arousal but his hand was burning on my bare knee, a wave of heat spreading from the point where his hand came in contact with my skin, radiating outward until I was completely covered in it.

“Jemma, I don’t know what’s wrong with ye’ an, ta be quite honest, yer’ not makin’ a whole lot o’ sense righ’ now….”, then he sighed again and looked at the floor.

Then he looked back and forth from where his hand was on my knee and my face.

“Well… This makes more sense…”, he murmured in a calm tone of surprise, as if he’d been late to realize the obvious.

“What makes sense?”, I asked.

He began to caress his thumb over my knee and I struggled to remain impassive when I wanted to emit a soft plea of mercy instead.

Didn’t he know what he was doing to me?

“I may not be an expert, but I did have ta’ take a semester of anatomy, physiology, an’ psychology along with biology an’ chemistry, so I know how an average human reacts to certain things. I can also tell that yer’ reactin’ ta somethin’. Yer’ the expert, Jemma… What are ye’  reactin’ to?”

“Well, when a person experiences a form of stimuli, whether it’s physical, psychological, or emotional, the brain will react by releasing hormones via the endocrine system…”, I looked at him again and saw how his pupils were dilated a bit.

Then it dawned on me.

The release of hormones during arousal in turn releases pheromones which can be picked up by another person.

This is why and how some people were able to smell when their partner is aroused or when a place smells like sex. The person is literally smelling the pheromones.

I glanced at Leo again and  his breathing had grown deeper.

He could probably smell my pheromones.

“When the hormones are released, namely when a person becomes sexually aroused, their body emits pheromones that those around them can sometimes smell…”, I said softly.

“Jemma, are ye’ aroused righ’ now?”, he whispered, “Because ye’ smell so damned good.”

I nodded, he deserved to know the truth and I hated keeping things from him. I felt safer when he knew what was really going on.

He got up and kissed me, slowly at first until I kissed him back with vigor, my tongue tangling with his and he groaned.

He pulled back and kissed my jaw.

“How long?”, he whispered.

“What?”

“How long have ye’ been aroused like this?”, he asked, his lips catching on my earlobe and his teeth nipping it lightly.

“Since the decontamination shower…”

“Tell me about it… tell me how ye’ feel…”, he murmured in a low voice.

“Well… I’m really turned on…”, I began, unsure of what to say.

“In detail…”, he purred, running both hands up and down my thighs under my skirt.

I wasn’t really good at talking dirty but I suppose I could try.

“Everything feels like it’s tingly… It’s what I would imagine an addiction being like because every time you take me, I get a rush and then I have to have more… nothing I do can ease the pressure…”

“Tell me more…”, He kissed my neck, slowly sucking on the skin lightly, and his callused hands pushed my skirt up a little to rest on my thighs, the roughness of his hands driving me insane as he rubbed my smooth skin.

“Leo…I’ve been in a state of need since the first time you kissed me…”, I moaned and he pushed up my skirt and looked down at my positively drenched knickers.

“Chris’ Jemma, ye’ ruined yer’ knickers…”, I shuddered as he moved the tips of his fingers so close to where I needed him but not close enough.

“Leo please don’t be a tease…”, I whimpered lightly as his fingertips ghosted over my sensitive clit, barely applying pressure through my knickers.

“I want ye’…”, he said, looking up at me, his irises a shockingly brilliant blue band around dilated pupils.

“Then take me…”, I said parting my legs so he had more room to touch me, “I’m all yours…”

He kissed me hungrily and murmured, “Best get ye’ out of these then…”, before pulling my knickers down slowly, glancing down with lust in his gaze as the soaked scrap of material clung to my sex. He pocketed the item and winked at me.

This was retribution for me stealing his shirts.  

“Yer’ beautiful… so beautiful…”, he murmured against my neck as he swept a fingertip quickly over my clit and I trembled, gasping at the sensation.

“We’re in the lab. So ye’ best keep quiet… Wouldn’t wanna get caught with yer’ skirt up an’ yer knickers in my pocket…”, he muttered as he pulled his lab glasses off and placed his lab coat on his chair.

I took my gloves off (his had been discarded before he came over to me) and my glasses followed along with my coat. He sauntered back over to me as he unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and pushed up his sleeves so I could see his lower arm muscles, which were _very_ well-toned (intricate machine work would do that). He gazed at me with hooded eyes and a sexual smirk.

I immediately noticed the straining bulge in the front of his trousers. (I was thankful that he was a stereotypical Scot when it came to _that_ part of him, not that I’d ever say so directly, maybe I would though, just to give his ego a boost.)           

“I want ye’ ta try somethin’, ye’ don’t have to do it if it makes ye’ feel uncomfortable…”, he began.

“What is it?”, I asked in a low voice as he stared at me.

“I want ye’ ta’ touch yerself…”, he murmured as he looked at me.

I felt myself blush but then I slid a hand down and began dipping my fingertips into my sex to get them wet and then biting my lip as I brought my wet fingertips up to my clit. I moaned as I began touching the sensitive bundle of nerves, grinding my fingers into it slowly before framing it and then slipping a finger all the way into my body. I gasped lightly as I found my G-spot and slid another finger in to curl them against the upper wall of my convulsing wet core.

Leo watched as I fingered myself before he pulled my hand away and told me to stop.

He brought my fingers up to his mouth and lapped my juices off of them before taking the two digits into his mouth to suck on them lightly, his tongue caressing them with care, cleaning them off before removing them from his mouth.

“I want ta’ take ye’ but at the same time, I don’t wanna get caught… can ye’ settle for me just bringing ye’ off with my mouth until we’re tucked away in one of our bunks?” 

I nodded and he knelt down, dropping a row of kisses along my inner thigh and leaving a large love bite on my pale skin.

Then he placed two fingers at my entrance and slipped them in, his mouth moving to pay attention to my clit, sucking on it firmly and causing me to plunge my hand into his glossy curls and emit a strangled moan.

Then I heard the tell-tale clunk of boots on the staircase and the next thing I knew, Leo had pulled his fingers from me abruptly and dragged my swivel chair over to my desk so he was hidden underneath it  and our actions were camouflaged. He swatted my hands away from his hair and pulled off of my clit to look up at me and mouth the words, _“Hands on the desktop, eyes forward, keep quiet.”_

I nodded minutely and obeyed.

Ward entered the lab and I felt Leo press his lips to the area right above my clit, his tongue flicking out to prod at the engorged nub and tease it.

_Dammit Leo..._

“Simmons. Where’s Fitz?”, Ward asked, completely oblivious to the fact that said engineer was eating me out under my desk.

“He went to the use the loo… I can give him a message though…”, I said, my voice somehow remaining steady as I lied and had my hips and legs twitch of their own volition.

Leo slid his tongue down to lap at my opening, drawing my labia open with two fingers and using his tongue to massage over my sex.

I bit my tongue hard.

_Damn him._

“Yeah, when he gets back, just tell him to take a look at my communicator because it’s on the fritz…”, Ward turned to leave but then turned back with a concerned look on his face, “Are you okay, Simmons?”

“Yes, why do you ask?”, I replied, trying not to look nervous as Leo took two fingers and slid them into me, finding sensitive spots that even I didn’t know I had.

“Well your face is all red and you’re starting to sweat…”, Ward said, “Do you need me to get you anything? Water? A snack? Fever reducer?”, he asked.

“Well, it’s hot in here…so that must be the cause of my red face and perspiration…I have to keep the lab at a higher temperature because of the  microbes that I’m currently studying...”

I had to end the sentence there and bite my tongue again because Leo did some indescribably amazing thing with his tongue and fingers, causing my hips to jerk a little.

“Oh okay, well, I’ll see you around then…”, Ward said and left.

The second I heard his footsteps move into the lounge, Leo pulled his fingers out and stuck his tongue into me.

I moaned a little loudly as I felt myself getting closer to my climax. Leo was slipping his tongue in and out of my opening, his stubble rubbing against my thighs as one of his hands was splayed over my abdomen, keeping my hips still as his thumb teased my clit. His other hand was gripping my right leg where it rested on his shoulder, preventing me from squeezing my thighs together around his head when I came (that had happened once last night and he told me that it felt like I was trying to replicate the Black Widow’s thigh grip on him).

The pleasure was building and I threaded one hand through his curls again, holding him against me, my other hand reaching up to squeeze one of my breasts through my shirt. I must’ve looked insane, twitching and writhing while keening in my chair, but Leo looked up at me and smirked devilishly.

I was so close when Leo pulled his tongue out of me and I whimpered in disappointment before he sucked my clit and raked his teeth over it lightly before plunging three fingers deep into my core. I cried out, bucking my hips, and the hand that was squeezing my breasts flew up to my mouth to stifle my noises.

“Yer’ getting’ tighter… I know yer’ so close...”, he growled intensely, his husky brogue making my entrance even wetter, “But I don’t want ye’ comin’ for me jus’ yet…”

I moaned helplessly as he pulled his fingers out so just the tips remained inside my opening to torture me.

“Let me… I need… _oh Leo_ …”, I whispered.

“Naughty lass… gettin’ wet, so fuckin’ wet, jus’ _thinkin’_ about the things I’d do ta’ ye’…”, his tongue darted out to prod my clit, “Well bad girls don’t get rewarded so easily---”

“Fuck me.”, I demanded, cutting him off because I was frustrated and caught on the verge of an orgasm that I so desperately needed that he was keeping from me.

His eyes widened in surprise. I had never said anything quite like that to him before.

“What?”, he asked.

“Leopold Iain Fitz, I want you to get up here, bend me over my desk and I. Want. You. To. Fuck. Me.”, I reiterated, emphasizing the last words to get my point across.

He blinked up at me and then scrambled to his feet, pulling out of me completely before clapping his hands and turning the lights off in the lab.

The lights were linked to the locks on the doors so when the lights went off, the doors also locked from the inside.

The dim glow from the lamp on my microscope, the computer monitors, and the holotable  provided just enough light to see each other but, thankfully, the cargo hold lights were off so the lights being turned on would give us a few seconds warning before anyone came down and caught us.

I took my cardigan off and loosened my tie before standing on shaky legs. Leo gripped the bottom hem of my blouse and pulled it up my torso before pulling the soft cups of my bra down and taking a pert nipple into his mouth as I emitted a soft whimper.

What a sight it must have been to see me; no knickers, my skirt pushed up, my tie loose around my neck, my blouse up around my collarbones and my bra pushed aside.

I didn’t care, Leo was touching me in all the right ways.

My hands flew to his belt and I pushed his trousers and boxers down, freeing his hard cock and using my thumb to spread his precum around the smooth head.

“Condom?”, he asked.

“Don’t worry, got the shot…”, I reminded him before I turned around and leaned over my desk.

His hands felt my arse and then he placed his tip at my opening before pushing deep into me as I moaned his name. With this new position, he filled me completely, bottoming out against my cervix in the first stroke.

I shook as his first thrust made me orgasm and he began screwing me into my desk.

“Harder…”, I whispered and he obeyed.

I had never felt so completely full and then, _oh God_ , then he reached around and started touching my clit again with one hand, the other moving to tease my breasts.

He was breathing heavily into my ear before I tightened and moaned as he pushed me into another earth-shattering orgasm.

“Fuck.”, he swore lightly into my ear, “I’m close Jemma… Maybe I can give ye’ a third one before I do…”

He bottomed out again and then began grinding into me and I felt myself tensing up again. He stopped pawing my breasts and pulled my collar aside, baring my shoulder and groaning before sinking his teeth into my flesh, not hard enough to break the skin and cause me to bleed, but just hard enough to leave a mark.

I would admit it only to him, but I loved it when he would bite me, there was something so basic and instinctive about him marking me with his teeth that turned me on past the point of rational and coherent thought. Combine the biting with this sexual position and it was no wonder that I had come twice. This dominant side of him was something I had never experienced, but I would love to have him do me like this again sometime.

This position reminded me of the mating habits of many animals, namely lions (leave it to me, the fucking biologist, to think about animals in heat during sex). Like a lioness, I liked  being the dominant female, but occasionally I would like it when Leo would step up and be my alpha male to fuck me senseless.

Those weird thoughts about lions and biology were driven from my mind when Leo thrust hard and deep inside me and groaned my name into my ear as I tensed and shattered, the waves of pleasure washing over me as my orgasm overtook every thought in my head.

I felt him release inside of me and I laid down on my desktop, shuddering as my legs grew weak.

 He pulled out of me slowly and cleaned himself up as I grabbed a wet wipe from the container in my desk and began to clean myself off. It was an unspoken rule between us that whenever we had sex, we’d clean up before coming back and snuggling as a form of after-play.

I covered myself up again and Leo pulled up his boxers and trousers, putting himself back together again.

“I s’pose ye’ wanna go an’ snuggle in one of our bunks now?”, he asked as he clicked on his workbench lamp, studied Ward’s communicator, before fiddling around with it and fixing it in thirty seconds flat. I turned on the lights and pulled my gloves on to remove the slide from my microscope and turn off my computer.

I nodded and we put the lab back together before Leo pocketed the communicator, restored the footage and we left the lab.

Once we were in the lounge, Leo wrapped his arm around my shoulders and Ward looked up from where he sat reading a book.

“Is Simmons okay?”, Ward asked, “I know she looked a little strange, like, you know, sick, when I saw her earlier…”

Leo spoke up for me, “Yeah, she’ll be alrigh’, it must’ve been somethin’ she ate at the hotel… she told me she’s not contagious, she jus’ needs some rest, so I’m gonna take her to her bunk an’ we’re gonna watch a movie or somethin’ while she rests…”

Ward nodded.

“Hope you feel better soon, Simmons.”

Leo handed the communicator to Ward and  grabbed a couple bottles of water and Gatorade before retreating into my bunk with me, locking the door so we had some privacy

I began undressing and I turned to him.

“I’m getting into clean underthings…”, I murmured as I pulled off my bra and put it in the hamper, standing nude in front of him for a second before pulling on fresh knickers and a matching bra and crawling into bed. He pulled off his clothes down to his plaid boxers and plain white vest before spooning me beneath my quilt.

“I love you, Leo.”, I said, turning in his arms to face him.

“I love ye’ too.”, he replied and then looked down at my shoulder where he bit me and frowned, “Shite, I didn’t mean ta’ bite ye’ _that_ hard…”, he said, rubbing the spot where he claimed me gently.

“It’s fine…”

“I shouldn’t be biting ye’ at all…”, he muttered, “An’ bendin’ ye’ over like that was just… I don’t even know…But I’m a gentleman… I shouldn’t be going at ye’ like a rutting animal…”  

“I liked it... all of it.”, I confessed.

His eyes went wide.

“Ye’ did?”

“Yes… It was hot…”, I confessed, “Is it bad that I liked it? Is that strange?”

“Nah, it’s normal ta’ like some stuff like that…we all have our kinks…”, he said, "I know that during one round of sex last night I had some really odd thoughts about robots an' androids... believe me, ye' can't get much stranger than that..."

His confession made me feel like less of a nutcase for thinking about lions.

We always seemed to complete each other in some sort of way and that had never happened until I met him and realized that there _was_ someone who was just like me.

Someone who understood the struggles of growing up as a loner because nobody liked being friends with someone who was their age with an IQ of someone who was much older and smarter.  

“Are you still uncomfortable with the idea of having rough sex?”, I asked.

“A bit, but I feel better now that ye’ said ye’ like it…”

“So tell me… If we all have our kinks, then what would yours be?”, I asked.

He grinned and kissed the end of my nose.

“I don’t really know… maybe, if yer’ willing ta’ try, we should experiment with some kinks an’ see if we like anythin’… It won't be anythin' that involves me hitting ye' though, mainly because that's against all my morals...”  

 I snuggled against him and nodded.

“Sounds like a plan…” 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are sweeter than Berger Cookies (for those of you who aren't from the States, look up the recipe online and try them out sometime)!


	10. Photo Shoot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get heated when Skye has to amp up her cover with some modeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for not updating, I've been busy with school and just recently, my mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer and just had a full hysterectomy, so I've been helping her while she recovers.   
> As always, this work is unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.

* * *

**Skye POV**

I paced in front of the mirror in my bunk and thought about ways that I could help Grant open up to me.

I flopped onto my bed and blew a tendril of my hair off my face.

Sure, I’m a people person and all, I’m decent with words and talking to people, but I have no clue how to face this new challenge of helping Grant to get used to voicing his emotions and speaking his mind.

I do love Grant, I love him so much that it scares me a little to think that I’ve only known him for a few months yet we’re moving so fast in our relationship. I just don’t want something to go wrong and have this, the most genuine relationship I’ve ever been in (and Grant’s first real relationship) take a turn for the worse because I pushed too hard. I’m scared of losing him.

 I was disappointed about this morning. I woke up late and had almost no time to get myself together and even less time to spend with Grant. I literally bolted from his room before he was even up, knowing that I wouldn’t have time for a shower if I stayed any longer. I wrote a note for him and left it on the side table, hoping he’d understand. He kissed me in the elevator on our way down to the lobby but that was about it. We barely spoke over breakfast and we did our separate things when we got back on the BUS; Grant went to the armory to begin inventory and I went up to the command center to do some research on Louis and Madeline Noir. Turns out that they’re pretty sociable people as well as philanthropists who were known for their generous donations towards medical research and to children’s hospitals.

Grant came in to get me to see Fitzsimmons about the mission and we headed down to the lab to get in our roles. Turns out that Ronnie Ford is a model and Nick Jones is her cosmetic surgeon. Fitzsimmons, Grant, and I formulated a cover story and then we went our separate ways; Fitzsimmons stayed in the lab to do God-knows-what, Grant went off to read up on cosmetic surgery and I went back to the command center to research modeling to know the terminology so that I could be prepared in case someone wanted to “talk shop” at the party.

A few hours passed, Grant went down to the lab and was back a few minutes later and he started reading a book, Fitz and Simmons emerged from the lab about forty five minutes later with Simmons looking sick and they holed up in Simmons’s bunk.

Then I made myself a sandwich for lunch and retreated to my bunk where I’ve been for an hour and a half.      

“What the hell am I going to do?”, I asked myself out loud.

“Well, You could let me in and tell me about your problems…”, Grant replied from directly on the other side of my door, startling me.

I scrambled to the door and slid it open, letting him in, but he didn’t make any move indicating that he was going to enter my bunk.

“Hey, what’s up?”, I asked in an attempt to break or at least ease the awkward tension between us.

“Well, you were asking a question and I thought that maybe you needed to talk to someone about it… Oh and we have to take a bunch of photos so we can put them online in case someone goes looking for background information. Coulson already has completed backstories for Fitzsimmons and myself, but since you are an agent in training, your backstory had to be filled in… usually communications does this. So I have to take some photos of you and make them look all fancy and stuff… nothing I can’t handle.”, he replied, shrugging nonchalantly at the end.

I cocked my head.

“I thought Simmons was the one who would be doing my photos?”, I asked.

“Well, since she’s not feeling well and everyone else is busy, I’ll have to take them.”

I paced slowly before sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Okay then…”, I replied, “What type of model am I now? Swimsuit? Sportswear? Underwear? I don’t really have much of any certain type of clothes, certainly nothing designer or high-end…”

Just then, Coulson walked by reading something in a file folder. Without looking up, he addressed us.

“Skye, you’re an swimsuit and sportswear model, that’ll be the most convincing cover for you because you’re young and have the looks for it… I had a crew stock one of the downstairs cargo pods with all the stuff you’ll need…”, he looked up at us, nodding to Grant, “Oh and when you review the photos, make sure that there aren’t any SHIELD logos in them.”

He left us in an awkward silence.

“Well, that answers all my questions, shall we begin?”, I asked, breaking the tension.

Grant nodded and we went downstairs.

Finding the pod was no problem, but the things inside it were a different story.

“Um, didn’t Coulson say that you were a swimsuit and sportswear model?”, Grant asked, mouth agape and eyes wide at the apparel inside the pod.

I mirrored his open-mouthed surprise, “Yeah…”

“Oh, because this is--”, he began but I cut him off.

“I know what it is.”

Racks of racy lingerie were occupying the space where my swimsuits and sportswear were supposed to be.

As if things weren’t awkward enough.

“Well, I, uh, should probably um leave so you can change…”, Grant said, his face bright red.

He turned for the door and I just got fed up with the awkwardness, so I spoke up.

“Hey, get back here. We need to talk about some things…”

  Grant turned around and faced me, an expectant look on his face.

“We never got to talk about last night.”, I said, forcing myself to be direct.

“What do you want to talk about?”, he asked.

“Well, I’d like to apologize first if I made you feel uncomfortable in any way, either by my words or by my actions. I also want you to know if I ever make you feel uncomfortable, you can tell me about it and I won’t be upset.”

Grant sighed.

“Skye, everything was amazing, there isn’t a single thing I would change… I just felt a little hurt this morning when I woke up in bed and you weren’t there…”

“I left a note.”, I replied.

He raised a brow at me.

“You did?”, he knit his brows as if he were deep in thought and said, “I don’t remember seeing a note…”

“Well, I could’ve sworn that I left you one…”, I replied.

“Aside from that and your cold shoulder for the rest of the day…”

“Cold shoulder? You basically brushed me off.”, I said, my pitch rising in annoyance.

“Brushed you off? I was busy, I had things to do…”

“You practically hid from me the whole day!”, I interjected.

He let out a sarcastic laugh, “Well excuse me for having responsibilities…”

“You think I don’t have them too?”

“You aren’t even a real agent, you’re just tech support!”, he barked.

“Says the guy whose brains are in his biceps…”, I huffed, anger bubbling to the surface.

Grant stepped towards me and I matched him, now we were standing chest to chest.

Neither of us were backing down.

“Just because we picked you up like a stray out of that alley doesn’t mean we can’t put you back there.”, he bit out.

“And where did you come from that makes you so much better? As far as I’m concerned we both had some pretty fucked up childhoods. SHIELD has plenty of muscle-bound thugs to choose from, what makes you so special?”

We were toe to toe now.

“We only kept you because you’re an anomaly, an 0-8-4. Just another thing SHIELD wants to study.”

“Well there, that’s what makes me so special, but you never answered me. What makes you so special? Your kill records? Your clearance level?”, I countered, trying not to let his comment wound me, but it was too late.

  “You’re my rookie.”, he said darkly, “Show some respect.”

“I do show you respect. The only time you started seeing me as a human being was when you found out that I had sex with Miles, before that, all I was to you was a problem. Even if you are my high and mighty SO, don’t think that I won’t call you out when you make a remark like that. Let me make this clear to you, _Agent_ Grant Ward, I am not afraid of you.”

His eyes widened and a jolt of adrenaline passed through me.

“You’re not afraid of me?”, he asked softly, the anger leaving his gaze.

I was surprised by the sudden shift in his demeanor. My own anger gradually ebbed away.

“Well, no… I know you won’t physically hurt me… It’s against your morals, especially after what you went through as a child.”, I replied calmly.  

“And emotionally? What about that?”, he pressed.

“You can be harsh, but I saw what was under that rugged exterior of yours last night…”

“And?”

“You use that exterior to hide from the world…”, I replied, “You want to be so much more than just the ‘muscle’ side of brains and brawn…You’re really a lover, not a fighter…”

“Maybe just a mix of both…”

“Or a lover who was trained to be a fighter.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”, he whispered.

He lifted a hand to run his fingertips over the curve of my jawbone and then kissed me.

It was soft and there was an apology attached to it. I leaned into the brush of his lips on mine and crinkled my nose when I felt his stubble.

“Love you…”, I murmured, and he kissed me again.

When we broke apart a few minutes later, I suggested that we get to work.

“Where do you want to model?”, he asked.

“Um, in one of the bunks… a bedroom like setting, since these are lingerie items…”

“Mine or yours?”, he asked.

“Yours, it doesn’t have posters in it and there aren’t strings of fairy lights hanging from the ceiling.”

He nodded.

“I’ll go get it set up, put some fresh sheets on the bed…you might want to do your hair and makeup down here, choose a few outfits, change into the first outfit down here and then put a robe on before bringing the next outfits up along with your clothes. You can change into the other outfits in my bunk, I can just leave between the shoots. Sound good?”, he asked.

I nodded, “Sounds fine to me.”

 “Okay… see you in a few…”

He ducked out, closing the door behind himself and left me to look at the racks upon racks of lingerie.

I sighed.

 _“Well, at least it’s Grant taking these photos and not Fitz… God, that’d be awkward…”_ , I thought to myself.

I selected a few outfits, noting the wide range in sizes, and put them aside before undressing and slipping into the first outfit; a sea green satin push-up bra with matching panties and garter belt with black lace trim, I paired them with sheer black thigh-high stockings and black patent leather stilettos.

I couldn’t help but imagine Grant’s reaction to me purposefully dressing and posing like a Victoria’s Secret model. I had to remind myself not to dress _too_ provocatively because these photos would no doubt be seen by other people on the internet. My intent was not to turn _them_ on by showing my body to them, hence my choices in attire being opaque outfits with some lacy bits here and there.

If I wanted to wear translucent panties, I would do it for Grant’s eyes only, not for the whole world to see. 

I did my hair and makeup before putting my clothes into a bag with the outfits and then I went to leave before stopping suddenly.

A black garment bag was thrust into the middle of a rack, it’s bright red hanger catching my eye.

I crossed the room and lifted the hanger off the rack before unzipping the bag.

My eyes widened in surprise at what was one of the sexiest and most expensive pieces of lingerie I had ever seen in my life.

All this lingerie had me thinking about what Grant would find appealing and it put me in a mood to want to test my theories on what excited him the most.

Maybe this would be an opportunity to see what got him going.  

I tried the lingerie in the bag on and was thrilled to find that it fit me perfectly, so I zipped up the bag, grabbed some props, pulled on a robe, and left the room.

 I knocked on Grant’s door and he opened it, greeting me with a half grin and ushering me inside. He closed the door and made a vague gesture around the room.

“Where would you like to start?”

I looked around, taking in the small space. He didn’t have any personal touches in the room, no pictures or trinkets, just a few books on the shelf above his bed and a black necktie on the handle of his closet door. His bed had a dark grey comforter on it and black sheets with a pillow in a matching black case.   

“On the bed…like sitting on the side…”, I decided.

 “Okay… uh, make yourself comfortable…”, he said and got the camera.

I discretely glanced in the mirror that hung on the closet door as I untied the robe and let it slip off my shoulders and I was pleased to see that Grant’s eyes flicked up and down my body and he licked his lips. I let my hair down and shook out my natural waves and loose curls and he breathed heavily.

Oh this was going to be fun.

I situated myself on the edge of his bed, posing as if I was candidly fixing my stocking.

“You ready?”, Grant asked.

“Yeah.”

And so we began.

The sexual tension rose with every pose.

Things began getting heated when I changed into my second outfit, a pink cheongsam with a cutout in the back and a pair of black lace panties. I took my stockings off for this one and put my hair up in a bun with a couple of fancy hair sticks and changed my darker red lipstick to a light pink matte.

Grant _actually_ blushed when I knelt in the middle of his bed and bit my lip in a display of false innocence.

I stretched out on his bed on my belly and kicked my feet in the air while cuddling his pillow.

“Is this okay?”, I asked.

He stared at me and didn’t reply.

“Hello, Earth to Grant?”

He seemed to blink back into focus.

“I’m sorry…uh, your pose is fine…”

I sat up on the bed and made myself look dainty on purpose, batting my eyelashes at him.

“You seem distracted…”, I said, my voice tinted with desire.

“That’s because you’re so, well, distracting…”, he replied simply.

We got in a few more shots before I changed into my third outfit, a purple shaper with lots of purple details on it, a garter belt, a pair of purple panties, a frilly garter and some intricately trimmed thigh-high stockings. I let my hair down again as I put on my stilettos, took off my lipstick, and then got into a pose that accentuated my curves, something I knew that Grant would like.

He reentered the room and I hit him with the best bedroom eyes that I could, causing him to freeze.

“Skye, you look amazing…”, he breathed.

I smiled.

“Well go on, you gonna take the picture or what?”, I asked in a silky voice.

I mentally celebrated when I noticed the front of Grant’s pants tenting.

We took the rest of the pictures and I posed in the sexiest ways I could without being too explicit.

“Okay so I’ll just leave so you can get back in your regular clothes…I’ll pack up after…”, he said and left.

I undressed and put the last outfit on.

 _“Okay Skye, you can do this… just call him back into the room… dim the lights if you must, just do it… you’ve teased him this whole time and he hasn’t acted on impulse, it’s time to reward him…”_ , I thought to myself.

“Grant…”

He opened the door while looking at the camera and reviewing the photos, not glancing up at me.

“These photos look really good, I won’t even have to retouch them.”, He glanced up and saw what I was wearing and he stopped short and inhaled sharply.

I had chosen a black satin corset with copper swirls over the body and black ruffled trim that accented around the top of the bust and the bottom of the torso, I paired it with a black g string.

 “I thought you were getting dressed—I didn’t know you had one more…”, he said and took the lens cap off the camera.

I crossed the room and placed a hand on the camera, lowering it.

“No, this one isn’t for my cover or the mission…this one is for us…”, I took the camera out of his hands, turned it off, and took the strap off from around his neck, depositing them in their open cases on his small desk.

I took one of his large hands in mine and locked the door with the other.

“I don’t want the world to see me like this…”, I gazed up at him lovingly, “I want this to be for your eyes only.”

He pulled me close to him and nuzzled his nose into my hair, planting a kiss on my forehead. He lifted me up in his arms as if I was weightless and I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He pulled back a little and the look of unadulterated adoration in his dark brown eyes caused my heart to melt.

“I really don’t deserve you.”, he whispered.

I kissed his jaw and replied, “I’ll be the judge of that.”, and he smiled.

I kissed him  deeply, my tongue sliding against his lower lip, flicking inside his mouth to tangle hotly with his and I moaned softly as he thrust a hand up into my thick mane of waves.

He put me down and we came up for air, still close in each other’s embrace.

I untucked his plain black t-shirt and placed my hands on the firm abdominal muscle beneath it, pushing the shirt up when Grant pulled it off of himself and let it drop onto the floor.  He exhaled slowly as I ran my hands up his body in a reverent manner, taking in his firm planes and edges, tracing his scars with my fingertips. He was gorgeous and I whispered that as I kissed his collarbone and inhaled, almost purring contentedly at the lingering whiff of his cologne. His arousal was firm against my belly and I kissed the ticklish spot behind his ear, my lips catching on his earlobe. He growled faintly, the sound causing a flood of wetness between my legs and a warm tension to settle in my abdomen.

“God, Skye…”, he said huskily, his fingers tracing over the copper swirls on my corset, no doubt itching to remove the offending piece of clothing.

I gazed up at him and brushed my lips across his before exhaling my request, “Make love to me Grant.”

He walked me back until my legs touched the edge of his bed and then he sat me down as he crossed the room to his dresser and pulled a box of unopened condoms out of his sock drawer.

I laid back on his bed, stretching out with my hair fanned out on his pillow, smiling up at him.

He opened the box and took out a condom, placing it on his bedside table before taking off his shoes and socks.

He knelt on the mattress by my bare feet and gazed at me.

“You’re so beautiful…”, he murmured.

I blushed as he got on all fours and hovered over me before kissing me on my lips and trailing kisses down my chin and neck, lapping at the hollow of my throat before peppering  kisses over my upper chest and the swell of each breast.

He placed a hand on the top fastener of the corset and looked up at me.

“May I?”, He asked.

I giggled a little, “I’d be pretty disappointed if you didn’t.”        

He smiled softly and popped the first clasp, tugging the corset apart a little to bare a sliver of my skin, which he kissed. He unclasped the corset slowly, gradually baring me, kissing my skin as it was revealed. He unfastened the last clasp and kissed the smooth skin just above the hem of my sheer (now drenched) panties before kneeling and parting the halves of the corset, exposing me to the heat of his gaze. I arched my back as he pulled the corset out from beneath me and dropped it on the floor with his shirt.

I bit my lip as his gaze lingered on my breasts.

I was not overly modest, but something about the way he looked at me made me want to hide myself. He didn’t leer at me, but the sheer amount of admiration in his eyes was something I had never truly seen in any of my former partners and it was like a rush of emotion, a shock to my already sensitive nerves. I felt myself blush. He was a man in love, even if he couldn’t say so, and I loved him right back.

I sat up and placed my hands on his belt, breaking the trance as I tugged the leather belt from the loops in his dark jeans.   

I brushed over his hardened member by accident and he groaned softly as I unbuttoned his jeans and lowered the zipper, tugging the denim down his firm butt and he moved to help me shuck them off.

When they were gone, I sighed and sat back on my heels.

“There,”, I winked at him, “now we’re even…”.

He wrapped a strong arm around my waist and kissed me. I moaned into his mouth as he laid me down and began caressing my breasts with his free hand, he used his other arm to prop himself up so he wouldn’t crush me. He kissed me between my breasts as his fingers toyed with my hardened nipples. I gasped in surprise when his mouth closed around my left nipple, his tongue and teeth gently working the sensitive flesh. My hand flew to the back of his head and I held him there as he gazed up at me and sucked gently, making me throw my head back in ecstasy as I emitted choked off whimpers.  He grinned as he pulled away from my left breast with a final lick and then attached himself to my right nipple and repeated the actions.

I slipped a hand between us and tried to alleviate some of the pressure between my legs but he caught my hand and held it.

He pulled off my right breast and smiled.

“Impatient?”, he asked.

I nodded, incapable of forming words after he made it clear to me that he had a very talented tongue.

He drifted his hands down my belly and peppered my navel with kisses.

I carded my fingers through his hair and regained my voice only to choke off a phrase when his hands drifted to my clothed sex and he ran two fingers over my mons.

“Ohhh, Grant, please…”, I whimpered  as he stroked me through the soaked scrap of lace that hardly covered me.   

“Skye, can I do this?”, he asked quietly, his pupils dilated with arousal.

I nodded, knowing what he was asking of me and giving my full consent as I propped myself up on the pillow.   

He settled himself between my thighs and ran his tongue over my panties, the textures driving me insane. He pulled the waistband down and I lifted my hips as he removed my final article of clothing.

I blushed again as he gazed at me again, taking me all in before burying his head between my legs with a groan, “Beautiful.”.

 I threw my head back and slumped against the pillow, gasping and whimpering as his tongue and lips did wicked things to me.

He sucked my clit gently and used the roughness of his tongue to tease it, causing my hips to twitch and buck violently.

His index finger stroked around my entrance before slipping inside and finding my g spot, a second finger joining it as they curled firmly against it before scissoring me open a little.

My hand held his head between my legs, my fingers scratching at his scalp and he growled, the vibrations going straight to my clit and making me jump.

His teeth held my clit in place as he prodded at me with his talented tongue.

 I felt myself tensing up and I gasped out as quietly as I could, knowing that Fitz and Simmons were just across the lounge in Simmons’s bunk, “Grant— _ohhh Grant_ —I’m gonna…”

He twisted his fingers inside of me _just so_ , and then I shattered, twitching wildly, one hand buried in his short hair, the other fisting into the pillow, turning my head into it to muffle my loud moans and high pitched gasps. Stars burst behind my eyes and I shuddered as he slowly pulled his fingers out of my trembling opening and released my clit.

I laid there before pulling myself up into a sitting position.

I saw him lick his fingers clean and wipe my juices off of his chin with his hand and he knelt at the end of the bed, once more gazing at me.

“You’re so beautiful…”, he murmured, “everything you do is just so amazing…”

I whispered, “Come here…”, and he crawled back on top of me to kiss me.

I palmed at his erection and pulled his boxer briefs down to release him and he pushed the offending material off and away before climbing back on top of me and I grasped his cock, pumping it a few times as I watched his face reflect the pleasure he felt. He groaned my name and pushed my hand away.

“Keep that up and I won’t last…”, he murmured.

He pulled the condom on and lined himself up at my entrance.

He placed his forehead on mine and slowly entered me.

He was big and I was still a little tender from the sex last night and I whimpered when he stretched me fully.

Fear crossed his face and he stopped.

“Skye, are you okay?”, he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

“I’m fine, ah, just a little sore from last night…”, I replied, nuzzling his nose affectionately, “You’re bigger than anything I’m used to…”

He laughed and slid in the rest of the way.

“Thanks…you really know how to give a guy an ego boost.”

His hands slid down my sides and I giggled and twitched.

He grinned at me.

“What’s this then? Is my rookie ticklish?”, he half said/half groaned as he set a steady pace.   

I gasped, “No, don’t you dare!”, and he smirked as he began to tickle me.

I laughed and he groaned against my throat because I tightened like a vice around him.

I began tickling him behind his ears and on his neck and he laughed through  his moaning before tickling me again and this time it was my turn to moan as I twitched and he shifted the angle of his entry, bottoming out against my cervix.

“Oh God, right there!”, I whimpered and he focused on keeping his angle the same.

“There?”, he groaned as he hit it again.

“Yes!”

 _“Oh Skye…God you’re perfect…”_ , Grant growled as I tightened around him again.

I gasped as he stopped thrusting deep inside of me to swivel his hips and I pulled his head down to crush his lips against mine in a mind-blowing kiss. Tongues wrestled and he bit my lip, pulling a wanton, high-pitched cry from deep inside of me. He swallowed my whimpers and I trembled against him as my orgasm rushed nearer.

We broke the kiss and he growled, “I’m close… _so close_...”, and his thrusts became more erratic.

_“Ohhh, Grant…Just a little longer…”_

_“Shh…”,_ he whispered before kissing me hard.

He slipped a hand between our bodies and found my clit to rub tight circles over it, sending me closer towards the edge.

“ _Skye… I’m not going to make it…”,_ he exhaled huskily against my lips.

 _“Grant—I—Ohhh!”,_ I moaned as my climax hit me like a freight train and then the world narrowed to Grant’s eyes locked on mine as he opened his mouth in a silent exclamation. His hips stutter-stopped and I felt him twitching deep inside of me as he came.

I was adrift in the vast ocean and Grant, my life jacket, was holding me tight to make sure I didn’t drown.

He pulled me back to land and then pulled out of me for an instant, leaving me, before quickly returning to tuck me under the sheets with him.  

Then he cradled me close and scattered kisses along my brow. My eyes slid shut and I embraced him as I  murmured one thing over and over again.

“I love you. I love you. I love you.”      

 

* * *

  **Grant POV**

 “Skye…”, I whispered, nuzzling her cheek as she kept repeating ‘I love you’.

“Grant”,  she said my name with a tone so full of adoration that my heart melted instantly.

She untangled our limbs and turned over so that she was lying on her back and looking up at me.

I gazed down at her sleepily and my heart skipped a beat upon seeing how she smiled at me.

Agent Ward, her hardened SO, and the unfeeling robotic agent that had frightened her during that first interrogation was gone, replaced with someone new, the man I always wanted to be.

 As I gazed down at her, I hoped that she looked at me now and understood that I wasn’t afraid of my past anymore or any of my long-harbored nightmares. I finally understood what it felt like to be at ease.

For the first time, I felt totally content with my life, and sharing a rare moment of peace like this with her would be one of the memories I would forever cherish.

“Hello.”, she whispered, her beautiful brown doe eyes reflecting the tranquil beauty of her very soul.

Instead of replying, I leaned down and kissed her forehead, nose, and lips before bumping our noses together gently and murmuring, “Hello”.

I heard the air conditioning kick on in my bunk and ignored it until I felt her shiver.

I moved on top of her, shielding her from the cold while her petite body not only warmed me up but turned me on. If I wasn’t in my refractory period, I would be rock hard against her right now.

“Grant…”, she murmured against my lips, this time her voice was husky with renewed arousal.

I gazed down at her and her warm brown eyes held so much life and joy. I wanted to know what that felt like when it suddenly hit me: I already did.

She was the one who had cleared away all the cobwebs in my heart and it was her who brought a smile to my face and laughter into my life. She was the beautiful streaming light that illuminated my soul. It was her who banished my demons. She was my strength and my courage. I had found a home with her.

God, I wanted to marry this woman, to be her forever. I wanted to give her everything. I wanted to wake up every morning beside her and see her pretty face. I wanted to father her children and start a family with her.  I wanted to grow old with her by my side.

She was my everything.

She loved me and I loved her.

 “I love you.”, she whispered and she kissed me slowly, rolling her hips against mine.

“I love you too.”, came my soft, almost inaudible response in a whispered exhalation against her lips.

Her eyes opened as she realized what I had said and she smiled back at me, tears forming in her eyes.

I feared the worst, my heart cracking, as I saw her tears until she laughed through them.

I sighed in relief.

She placed a hand on my chest over my heart and smiled.

“My Robot… you do have a heart…”, she whispered.

I kissed her softly, wiping her tears away and staring into her soft cocoa eyes.

“My Rookie…it belongs to you… it always will…”, I replied.

She kissed me intimately, bearing her heart and soul to me.

I promised myself in that moment that no harm would come to her, not on the mission, not ever.

“Skye, I love you…”, I said, placing my forehead against hers.

“I love you too, Grant.”

We made love again, slowly this time, rolling each other around beneath the sheets, in an intimate dance that we had only just begun.

We were dance partners and this was our slow tango.

 

* * *

* * *

Links for Skye’s lingerie:

Green:  https://s-media-cache ec0.pinimg.com/236x/78/a3/d0/78a3d0da82c46ad7be619fa25009e068.jpg

 Pink: [http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTAwWDUwMA==/z/nMUAAOxyFrNRyuy7/$(KGrHqFHJDcFHHBdmBhDBRyuy7PUr!~~60_35.JPG](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTAwWDUwMA==/z/nMUAAOxyFrNRyuy7/%24\(KGrHqFHJDcFHHBdmBhDBRyuy7PUr!~~60_35.JPG)

Purple: <http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8e/f4/d5/8ef4d5d8d0e18aa1aa0b3473acbfefaa.jpg>

Corset: <http://upload1.tradetang.com/img/b/0912/31/22/122286/12228653040.jpg>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about Grant's POV being so short, he'll get a longer one soon.


	11. Two Can Play This Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lack of updates, I kind of lost my muse and then Christmas happened and my grandmother passed away on the 3rd, so things have been pretty rough. On the upside, my mom's CA 125 proteins are low and the chemo is working well for her!

* * *

**Simmons POV**

I knew I was dreaming.

Everything was too surreal.

I knew I was in Paris at night, I was standing with the Eiffel tower as my backdrop and the moon above me.

I was wearing a pale gold gown that fluttered in the breeze and everything was silent.

Someone tapped me on my shoulder.

I turned around and Leo stood there with a single rose in his hand and a smile on his face.

He was wearing a tuxedo and he held the rose out to me.

I took it and then I felt something brushing me on the cheek, only it wasn’t in the dream.

I blinked and woke up to see Leo Fitz staring right back at me, his deep cerulean eyes reflecting adoration as he smiled softly at me. His fingertips rested on my cheek and he brushed a stray lock of my hair behind my ear.

“Hello.”, I said sleepily.

“Hello lass.”, he replied, leaning down to press a kiss against my forehead.

“What time is it?”, I asked.

“About 5:00 or so…”, he replied, his stomach grumbling on cue.

I realized just how hungry I was too  and then I rolled out of bed.

“Come on, I’ll fix you something for dinner.”, I offered.

“I’ll make it, you’re supposed ta’ be feeling sick, remember?”

I nodded and Leo rolled out of bed.

We dressed in silence. I got into a warm t shirt and a pair of flannel sleep pants (I was supposed to be feeling sick after all) and Leo pulled on his discarded clothes from earlier.

We left my bunk and I noticed that the door to Ward’s bunk was shut and had the lock engaged with Skye nowhere in sight.

I walked right on by and into the kitchen where I began getting the sandwich ingredients out of the refrigerator. Leo reached above me to grab a couple of mugs and the tea we liked.

I moved around him and he shifted to let me pass.

It was a domestic dance that we had perfected after years of living and working together. The first time Skye saw us doing our morning routines of making breakfast and brewing tea, she had said that we were so in sync, like we were reading each other’s minds.

Leo and I had shrugged it off, but deep down, I had wanted that to be true, maybe then he’d already know how I felt about him.

Now he knew and he felt the same way.

I watched in silence as he made our sandwiches and brewed our tea, whispering my thanks as he placed my plate in front of me and sat down across from me. We ate in silence, the only sounds coming from our chewing and the occasional sip of tea.

“Jemma, can I ask ye’ something?”, Leo asked.

I nodded.

“Of course…”

He looked around to make sure we were alone and then lowered his voice.

“Um, it’s pretty personal…an’ it’s probably not any of my business…well it _is_ , in a way, but at the same time it’s _not_ …”, He said, his face growing redder as he continued.

I reached across the table and placed my hand on his before giving him a comforting look.

“Oh Leo, you know I don’t mind any of that…”, I murmured lovingly and I smiled when he looked up at me with a small smile on his face, “You can ask me anything.”

He took a deep breath and lowered his voice.

“I wanted ta’ ask ye some questions about the sex we’ve been having…”

“Go on…”

“Firs’, on a scale from one to ten, with ten bein’ completely comfortable, how do you feel about me not using protection all the time?”, he asked. “I don’ want ta’ make ye’ feel uncomfortable…”

“I’m comfortable with it, and I’d say my level of comfort would be at a nine, just because we still have to be careful, especially when I am supposed to be in the fertile part of my cycle…”

“I’m confused as ta’ how ye’ still get your period…I thought the shot prevented that?” , Leo asked.

“Some of the shots do but you see, SHIELD Medical has formulated a new type of Depo-Provera shot that still allows women to get their period and ovulate regularly, but there’s a special synthetic hormone that will actually neutralize the egg upon its entry into the fallopian tubes… So I’ll still menstruate and have a regular cycle, but we still need to be cautious. Remember, the only time there’s no chance of pregnancy is when there’s no sex at all…”

Leo nodded as he sipped his tea and I sighed.

“But oh what a boring time we’d have…”, I murmured as I sipped my tea.

Leo nodded.

“Okay… somethin’ I’ve had on my mind since the second time we were together an’ I didn’t use protection… what does it feel like when I, ye’ know, finish inside of ye’?”

“Oh. It feels _different_ …”, I replied.

“Like is it a ‘bad’ sort of different?”, he asked.

I shook my head.

“Not at all, on the contrary, I find it quite intimate.”

Leo looked a bit shy as he fooled with the handle on his teacup.

“Would it be too much ta’ ask of ye’ if I said I wanted ta’ hear about how it feels for ye’ when I do let go inside?”, he asked shyly, “’M just curious…ye’ don’t have ta’ if ye’ don’t want ta’…”

I shook my head.

“No it’s fine if you want to know. Honestly if our roles were reversed, I’d want to know too.”

He nodded and I took it as a sign to continue.

“Well,”, I began, lowering my voice, “I can feel you inside me just before you let go and then your thrusts get a little out of time and then they stop. After that it’s like you pulse almost and then you kind of collapse on me…”

“Can ye’ feel the, uh well…ye’ know… my, uh, _fluid_?”, he asked, his face red in embarrassment.

“I actually can’t feel it inside of me because my internal nerves aren’t _that_ sensitive but when you pull out, it comes out.”

He nodded.

“I can feel it then and it’s hot.”, I murmured, recalling the sensation, the feel of him after one of the rounds from the other night. He had stroked down my spine and kissed me slowly as I shivered with aftershocks, feeling sated and complete as he slowly pulled out of me. I felt the evidence of our coupling leave my body and I knew in that moment that I would never feel that level of intimacy with another man.  

“Ah… now d’ye mean ‘hot’ as in temperature or--”

“Both. Now tell me, what do you think about it, because I don’t want to make _you_ feel uncomfortable…”

“I think it’s probably the most intimate thing I ‘ve ever done before…I mean, I know we aren’t tryin’ ta’ make a baby but I almost feel like that’s precisely what we’re tryin’ ta’ accomplish when we’re in the heat o’ the moment an’ I like it… but I didn’t want ta’ do it again without knowing how ye’ felt first.”

I nodded.

“And that’s perfectly fine…”, I replied.

Perhaps one day in the future Leo and I would do things with nature’s intentions in mind.

He shrugged and fiddled around with his teacup awkwardly.

I reached across the table to tilt  his chin up.

“Hey, look at me…”, I murmured gently, gazing into his unwavering blue eyes, “You should feel comfortable talking to me about these things, that way one of us doesn’t end up doing something in the heat of the moment that makes the other feel uncomfortable. I don’t want that to happen, okay?”

He nodded.

“Okay, but ye’ need ta’ understand that sometimes I feel like I’m asking too many questions and that I don’t have a lot of experience with relationships…”

“I don’t have a lot of experience either…so we’ll learn together…”, I replied patting his hand.

He smiled and lifted my hand, gently pressing his lips to the back of it.  

 He got up and took my plate, kissing me on my forehead as he went over to the sink and began rinsing them off before loading them into the dishwasher.

I stood up and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around his torso and hugging him from behind. I rested my head in between his shoulder blades, listening to the sound of him breathing mingled with the steady beating of his heart. He dried his hands off before placing them over my own small hands.

“Jemma…my Jemma…”, he murmured as he raised my hands to his lips and kissed them.

I smiled softly and whispered,

“Yes…I’m yours…I’ll always be yours…”

We stood like this for a while and we broke apart when Coulson entered the kitchen and looked at us.

“Simmons, are you feeling any better?”, he asked as he got himself a microwave dinner.

“Oh yes… much better now…”, I replied.

“Fitz, did you fix Ward’s communicator?”, Coulson asked.

Leo nodded.

“Oh, did you find anything during Lola’s tune up?”, he asked as the microwave beeped.

“Nothin’ that ye’ should be concerned about, I basically just tightened the distributor cap… I also did the usual things like topping off  the fluids an’ running the monthly system diagnostic scans…”

“So she’s okay?”

“In top condition.”

“Good work… I don’t think I’d trust anyone else with Lola…”

Coulson made a face at the meal when he pulled it out of the microwave.

“I wish they’d stock up with a little more _variety_ … oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.”, he muttered as he grabbed a fork.

 Just then, the door to Ward’s bunk slid open and both Ward and Skye emerged.

“There you are…”, Coulson said, putting down his fork, “How did the photo shoot go?”

Both of them looked like children who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

“Oh, hey AC… it went pretty well.”, Skye replied while trying to flatten out her messy hair.

“Although there was a miscommunication with the storage crew, we managed to work around it.”, Ward replied.

“What happened?”, Coulson asked.

“Well, they didn’t give me a pod full of athletic wear, they gave me a pod full of lingerie…”, Skye replied.

Coulson shook his head.

“If I had a dollar for every time that happened to Romanoff, I’d be rich.”, he muttered, “Actually, this is good… I’m sure they stocked some underwear for wearing under formal gowns in there, once we land to refuel and get your dresses tomorrow, you should try to find some things to wear under them, because those bulletproof panels will be right against your skin if you don’t put something on…”, Coulson suggested.

I shrugged,

“Sounds good to me, maybe I should go down there now and make sure they actually carry my sizes that way I’m not in a tight spot on the 14th...”, I said.

“Trust me Simmons, they’ll have your sizes…”, Skye nodded.

“Well, what are all of you planning to do tonight?”, Coulson asked.

“Skye and I were going to do some dancing and then I was going to teach her a few common phrases in French, that way if we do get separated and she encounters someone who doesn’t have a good command of the English language, she can at least communicate with them to some degree.”, Ward replied.

Coulson nodded.

“That sounds like a good idea. If Simmons feels up to it, she and Fitz should definitely join you... Simmons knows a little French--”

“Very little.”, I interjected as Coulson nodded.

“And she might be able to help.”, he finished.

Leo looked at me and wordlessly asked if I was feeling up to it and I nodded minutely before we both turned to Coulson and replied.

“Sounds like a good idea, let me go change.”

“We’ll be down in the cargo bay warmin’ up…”

Coulson nodded as he cleaned up from his meal and left the kitchen.

“Well, I s’pose I’ll just go and change…”, I said, stepping out of the room as Ward busied himself with making dinner.

I walked back to my bunk but just before I got there, I gasped as I felt Leo wrap his arms around my waist and steal a kiss.

He turned around and winked at me before exiting the lounge.

“Don’t be too long Jem…”

“I won’t.”

I slid my door shut and sighed as I went over to my closet.

Oh that man was something else… He could be so oblivious and so shy one moment and then proceed to sweep me off my feet in the next. He could be a gentle lover one night and then be bold and willing to try new things the very next day.

His nature was more contradictory than anything, but I didn’t mind at all, it was one of those things that made me love him even more.

But there was one thing that never changed even through his whole spectrum of emotions, he never stopped showing me how much he truly loved me and that was something that made the butterflies return to my stomach.

Everything between us was so new, but it felt like we had been at it for ages, the way we would just come together like two magnets, as if we were together not only because we were both reaching out to each other but because it felt like an invisible force pulled us together.

I changed quickly and hurried downstairs. Leo had been working hard on recalibrating the DWARFs but put Sleepy aside when I walked in.

“Ah, there ye’ are…”, he said as he pulled out the iHome speakers and plugged his phone in, “We should probably warm up.”

“I agree…shall we?”, I asked, extending my hand to him as he put on a slow song that we began to sway to, gradually moving into a waltz.

Leo dipped me and then he was trailing hot kisses down the column of my neck.

I barely contained my breathy whimper.

 _“Yesss…”_ , I exhaled as he gently sank his teeth into the place where my neck stopped and my collar began.

He smirked and hauled me closer so that our bodies were pressed together and I could feel the evidence of his arousal.

This was not a waltz or a tango, this was somewhat of a hybrid of the two. Leo seemed to think of it as a game, to see what he could do to turn me on and I saw the challenge hiding in the smirk on his lips and in the way he looked at me.

He brought his lips to the shell of my ear and whispered, _“Do your worst, I dare ye’…”_ , before nibbling teasingly at my earlobe.

Challenge accepted.

I decided to do my worst and hoped that he wouldn’t get upset about it.

“Fine then…”, I murmured.

I would tease him gradually but not do anything more than that. I wouldn’t let him get past second base, but I would sure as hell drive him crazy with the prospect of going all the way. It would be difficult for me to keep this up for very long so I decided to do it for 24 hours and then if I was okay and if Leo wasn’t oblivious to it or upset by it, I would continue.

I put my plan into motion in that moment, pressing my pelvis against his and biting my lower lip as I ran my fingers through the soft curls at the base of his skull.

“That’s your worst?”, he asked, trying hard to keep his voice from betraying him (but it didn’t quite work and I saw right through his act) and I shook my head.

“Nope.”, I replied simply and left it at that.

I stopped grinding on him and pretended to fix my shoe and I could practically feel his confused stare.

Just then, Grant and Skye joined us and the lesson began.

 _“Well, let’s begin…”_ , I thought to myself as I resolved to begin winding Leo up in all the right ways.

Over the course of the next few hours, I proceeded to drive Leo insane.

I’d kiss him, then murmur a term of endearment in French such as, _“Leo, mon cher…_ _Je t_ _’aime…”_ (“Leo, my dear…I love you…”) and then wait for him to make a move before darting away playfully.

I wore his shirt to bed again, only this time I wore a pair of Victoria’s Secret PINK shorts with it and I just happened to be brushing my teeth with the bathroom door open when he walked by.

 In between leaning over the sink, checking my teeth ‘absentmindedly’, and not wearing a bra I managed to catch his attention.

“Damn Jemma…”

I looked up ‘innocently’ and smiled at him.

“Oh hello Leo…”

He looked torn between walking away and rushing into the bathroom to ravage me. (Honestly, I wouldn’t even mind the second option right now because I wanted him so bad.)

The next thing I knew, I was up against the wall, the door was shut, and Leo was kissing me with a burning passion. I moaned as he stroked my breasts through the cotton of his shirt and my nipples tightened with arousal. He managed to slip a knee between my thighs and I whimpered when his thigh pressed against me through my shorts.

“Leo, I— _ohhh_ stop….”, I managed to choke out.

He stopped immediately, concern crossing his face.

“Are ye’ okay? Did I do something wrong?”, he asked, taking a step back and cradling my chin with his hand, his thumb brushing my cheek lightly.

“No,”, I pressed a kiss to his palm, “you didn’t do anything wrong… I’m just a bit sleepy, that’s all…”

“Ah… okay… Well then I s’pose I’ll leave ye’ to finishing up here an’ I’ll be in my bunk if ye’ need me…”, he said, leaning in and kissing me softly on the lips, “Sleep well Jemma, I love ye’…”

“Love you too.”, I murmured.

He left the bathroom and I went on with my ablutions and I emerged a moment later to find the plane on night mode.

All the bunk doors were shut and locked except Ward’s, which was wide open, but that probably meant that he and Skye were together in her bunk.

I went over to my bunk, keyed in my passcode, and slid the door open.

I found a note on the floor as if someone slid it under the door and found that it was Leo’s passcode to his bunk with a few sentences in his messy scrawl:

_“Jemma, here is my new bunk passcode. Feel free to stop by any time, day or night, for anything. I figured, I had your code, so you should have mine. Love always, Leo.”_

I smiled and laid down on my bed, sliding beneath the duvet and missing him already.

He had held me the past two nights and he had cuddled me so close. I missed the way he’d kiss me when he was sleepy, I missed the gentle rise and fall of his chest, and I missed listening to his heartbeat.

I missed the way he’d touch me in a slow caress, paying special attention to my breasts.

I sighed as I slid my hands up to cup my breasts and I unbuttoned the shirt to touch my nipples, which were still hard, but frowned when my manipulation didn’t have the desired effect.

His hands were so much rougher than mine anyway.

I slipped my shorts and knickers down and touched myself.

Being pinned against a wall by Leo had left me drenched, so I tried to take care of it on my own.

My fingertips stroked over my clit and I rubbed the sensitive nub before slipping my index finger inside myself and searching for my G-spot in vain.

I have two PhDs for goodness sakes, I should be able to find it…

I closed my eyes and imagined it was Leo fingering me or at least watching as he had earlier, but I couldn’t find the same drive as I had earlier when he was actually watching.

His fingers were so much longer than mine, he could touch that place that I couldn’t reach (the fact that his fingers weren’t slender also helped considerably) and he was so bloody precise with how he touched me.

I changed my position a few times with no luck and then I eventually gave up.

I laid there, frustrated and horny and needing release only to spout off a couple choice words as I realized that Leo had ruined me for myself….

Before, I had been able to just get myself off without a problem. But now it was damn near impossible.   

I wanted to march across the lounge, punch in his passcode, and have my way with him.

_Why did I have to do this?_

I looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

_That’s right… ‘Do your worst’…_

I turned over and pulled on my shorts and knickers and then buttoned up Leo’s shirt again.

I had no one else to blame for this but myself.

I got up and pulled on some proper clothes and shoes before tiptoeing past all the bunks and going downstairs to the lab to finish my work with the microbial study because heaven knows I wouldn’t be getting much sleep in this state.

I worked for four and a half hours and then when my head grew heavy, I cleaned up my workspace and went to bed.

* * *

**The next day…**

**Fitz POV**

I woke up early with the sole intention of getting enough time in the shower to surprise Jemma by making breakfast for her when she woke up and, with that thought in mind, I reluctantly rolled out of bed and stretched before getting my clothes and heading off to the bathroom to shower.

I was still half asleep when I got out of the shower and I was in the middle of shaving when someone knocked on the bathroom door.

“What?”, I asked.

“Fitz, I gotta go…”, Skye whined.

I sighed.

If Skye was up this early, then that meant that Ward must’ve woken up early too, and that meant that Jemma wouldn’t be very far behind them.

“Can you use the other bathroom?”

“Grant’s in there…”

I had to hurry if I wanted to have enough time to make Jemma’s favorite: buttermilk pancakes.

“Alright, I’m hurrying…”, I said as I rushed through the rest of my routine and dressed.

I exited the bathroom and let Skye in.

She looked dead on her feet but I knew that she would perk up in no time.

I walked towards the kitchen just as Ward left Skye’s bunk with a bundle of clothes that I had to assume were the things he wore to bed last night and wasn’t surprised when he began whistling.

“Morning Fitz, what are you up to?”, he asked, dropping the clothes into his hamper where it sat just inside his bunk door.

“I’m gonna surprise Jemma with breakfast.”

“Mind if I help?”, the specialist asked.

“Not at all. Do you know how to make buttermilk pancakes?”, I asked as I reached for the cookbook.

“That’s actually one of the very few things I know how to make from scratch…”, Ward said and began loading ingredients onto the worktop.

“So I suppose I should brew the coffee and tea…”, I said to myself.

“That’d be great.”, he said.

We didn’t really have the same synchronized patterns, but we only bumped into each other a few times so it wasn’t too terrible.

“Whatcha making?”, Skye asked as she sat down at the counter.

“Food.”, Ward replied with a smirk and a wink at his girlfriend.

“Ha. Ha. Ha… you’re so funny…”, Skye said sarcastically before thanking me for the coffee that I placed in front of her.

Ward handed me a pound of bacon and told me to fry it up.

I was halfway done when Jemma emerged from her bunk and dragged herself to the bathroom.

She looked like she was angry at the world.

I had only seen that expression on her face a few times, and it usually meant that we, correction, I, would be dealing with a very grumpy Jemma Simmons.

I didn’t say a word to Skye or Ward about it, not wanting to be wrong.

I was glad I didn’t, especially when the pancakes were done and she emerged looking just like the bright-eyed ray of sunshine that she was.

“Oh wow… look at this… Did you and Ward fix all this?”, Jemma asked.

“It was all Fitz’s idea… I only helped with the pancakes.”, Ward replied.

“Well everything smells and looks delicious…”, Jemma said as she sat down. I handed Jemma her tea along with a plate of pancakes and some bacon on the side.

Ward and I set a couple of plates off to the side for May and Coulson before we sat down and Skye and Ward said quick prayers in silence over their meal as Jemma and I respectfully waited for them.

A couple seconds later, we were tucking into our pancakes and bacon. The sound of forks and mugs and swallowing filled the air as we ate.

Jemma let her hand fall down and rest against my thigh, gently rubbing in circles as she sipped her tea. Ward and Skye were oblivious to her actions but I was so on edge that I felt my blood rushing south at an alarming rate.

 _“Not here!! Think of something disturbing!! Uh, road-kill, cat’s livers… Jemma doing an autopsy,”_ , I thought to myself, _“Shite, uh, dead things in my workspace…”_

Nothing was working and Jemma kept stroking further up the inseam of my trousers.

Then she flitted her hand away and I almost swore aloud.

Damn that minx…

Coulson walked in and a soft ping was heard as May engaged the autopilot feature.

They sat down and ate and thanked Ward and I for making breakfast before Coulson told Jemma that there was a problem with her dress and that she’d have to try to find another gown in the warehouse at the base in Dubai.

Jemma shrugged and said,

“I hope they have my size…”

“We’re landing soon, so you all better buckle up.”, May said after depositing her dishes in the dishwasher, “Get those covers perfected.”, she said, pointing to us as she closed the door to the cockpit.

Coulson kind of shrugged and said, “Yeah, what May said…”, before buckling in.

Jemma and I buckled in on the sofa as Ward and Skye took the window seats.

We were out of sight; an armrest blocked Skye’s view, Ward was facing away from me, and Coulson had his back to both of us.

Jemma began sliding her fingers up my inseam again and my breath hitched as she gave me the bedroom eyes, the ones that said, _“I know I’ve already eaten, but I’m ready for dessert…”_ , and they were the eyes that turned me on past the point of all rational and coherent thought.

 She pulled her hand away just before she got to my hardened length and sent a teasing wink in my direction.

Oh… she was messing with me…

Well two can play at that game.

I slid my hand up her thigh, pausing to rub at her inner thigh mere centimeters away from her core and I could already tell how absolutely turned on she was by my actions.

And didn’t that make me want to go down on her and stay between her thighs all day.

We landed and I snapped out of my haze of wanting to fuck Jemma senseless.

There was work to be done, shagging Jemma could wait.

 I went down to the lab and found that the place had been cleaned overnight and Jemma’s microbial report was placed neatly on the middle of her desk. Then I noticed how tired Jemma looked.

When the lab doors closed I swiveled around in my chair and looked at her.

“Jemma, how much sleep did you get last night?”

“Oh, hardly any at all.”, she replied, yawning as if to emphasize her point.

“Was something wrong?”, I asked.

“Not necessarily…”, she began, “I was really on edge last night after what happened in the bathroom.”

“Oh so that little mishap… that was just to tease me?”, I asked.

“Yes…oh I’m sorry, I hope you’re not mad at me…”, she apologized.

“No need to be sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong… if anything, I’d go as far as naming it the seduction of Leo Fitz by the irresistible temptress Jemma Simmons.”

Jemma giggled and rolled her eyes.

“Let’s be realistic, I’m not that tempting and I’m certainly not irresistible…”

I came up behind her and nuzzled her neck before pulling her against my body.

“Jemma, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met…You are brilliant at what you do and I love watching your eyes light up when you make a new discovery.”, I paused, “But, Christ Jemma, I don’t think you know how much it turns me on to see you when you’re comfortable in your own skin, how bloody hot you are when you have a mind-blowing orgasm and how beautiful you are when you cuddle up against me.”

She sighed and relaxed against me, letting her head fall back onto my shoulder and baring her neck to me.

“Leo, last night I was extremely aroused and I tried to take care of it on my own… I couldn’t do it…”

“What do you mean?”, I asked.

“I couldn’t get off because you ruined me for myself…”, She turned around in my arms and gave me a sexy look that made me want to ravage her right here where anyone could catch us.

“Do you want me to help you out?”, I asked, hoping she caught my drift.

“Maybe…”, she whispered and leaned in slowly.

I was kissing her for what felt like half a second when the lab doors opened and we jumped apart.

Coulson gave us a weary look and sighed.

“Save that for when you’re not on the clock and for Christ sakes, keep it in the bunks. Simmons, the warehouse crew brought out all the dresses that they have in your size, you should go with Skye and try them on while she gets her dress altered.”

Jemma nodded and left the BUS.

I sighed as I was left to my own devices and I sketched away on my grid paper.

I had an idea for a newer version of the Night-Night pistol that had the same concept only it was more powerful at longer range shooting, it had a more lightweight style, and it was easier to conceal. It’s rounds would have double, maybe even triple the stopping power of a Night-Night round.

I didn’t have a name for it yet, I didn’t even draw up a plan for it on the holotable yet.

Oh well, all of my best designs started out like this.

Where would I get the materials from?

Would Jemma be able to apply the new dendrotoxin to this weapon?

I occupied myself with my project for about an hour and then Jemma and Skye returned with black garment bags and black shoeboxes, heading straight back to the cargo pod to try to find some suitable underwear. Jemma went first and Skye looked over my shoulder and observed my work.

“Is that another Night-Night pistol?”, she asked.

“Not quite, but it’ll be nonlethal all the same.”, I replied, making a note in the margin of the paper for width.

Skye and Jemma switched spots and Jemma began talking about the new grade of dendrotoxin she would be working on that would have a longer knock out time than the Night-Night dendrotoxin.

We discussed the gun at length, theorizing the possibilities of having more than one type of bullet being used. Maybe we should make regular rounds with the new grade of dendrotoxin and then make a second round of tags only.

“Why not have both?”, Skye asked as she exited the pod, toting her garment bag and shoebox.

Jemma and I looked at each other, and then at the sketch.

“It could work.” “Sounds like a good idea.”, we replied almost in sync.

“God, you two are such nerds…”, Skye smirked at us as she left the lab, winking before she disappeared up the stairs.

Jemma looked at me the second the lab doors shut and she gave me this funny look.

“What?”, I asked.

“Skye was acting a little funny just now…”, she replied.

“Skye’s always like that though.”, I replied.

Jemma shrugged.

“Oh well, I guess you’re right.”, she said, trailing her fingertips across my shoulders.

I swiveled around in my chair.

“You know Coulson doesn’t want us doing this outside of our bunks…”, I murmured as Jemma played with my necktie.

“Or while we’re on the clock…”, she murmured as she let her palms slip down my torso to where I was getting hard for her.

I inhaled when she cupped me through my trousers and stroked me gently before kissing me, nipping at my lip and pulling away from me completely.

She got off on getting me all wound up like this.

She was going to give me blue balls, I just knew it…

“Hey Jemma, I was wondering if we could discuss that stuff you wanted to try out.”, I said after my erection faded away.

“Of course Doctor Fitzy… what do you want to know?”

Shite. What _didn’t_ I want to know?

I smoothed down my tie and got a brilliant idea.

“How do you feel about being tied up?”, I asked.

“Mm sounds fun… now would it just be at the wrists?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll have to work out safe words if you’re going to tie me up.”, She said with a serious edge in her voice.

“Of course. How about you say ‘red’ if you want me to stop completely, ‘yellow’ if you want me to take it easy because I’m bordering your safe-zone, and ‘green’ if everything is good and you like what’s going on?”, I asked.

“That sounds like a good system… now will the same rules apply to you when _you’re_ the one being tied up?”

My pulse quickened as I imagined her tying me up with my own neckties and then torturing me with a striptease.

“Yeah… I’d like that. I also want you to know that I won’t do something to you if I’m not comfortable with it.”

“I respect that.”, Jemma nodded. “I assume the same rules apply for me when I’m in a dominant role?”

“Naturally…”

It was quiet for a while.

“So how would you feel about trying some new positions?”, she asked after a beat of silence.

“Which ones did you have in mind?”

Jemma looked at me with a glint in her eyes.

“How does reverse cowgirl sound?”

My face fell.

“Oh, not so good I suppose…”, she replied with an apologetic tone.

“I’m sorry, I just… I like seeing your face when we’re together, the range of expressions you go through, the way you look when you go over the edge…”, I was making vague gestures, searching for words that I didn’t have, “You know?”

 She nodded.

“Perhaps coital alignment…”, she suggested, and when she saw my raised eyebrow she elaborated, “It’s basically a modified missionary…that way we can be face to face and get the most contact that we can.”

I nodded, liking the sound of that.

“Yeah… I think that’s be great… may I make a suggestion?”, I asked as I sat down at my computer and began roughing out the general layout of the new gun in the Inventor program.

“Please do…”, she replied, formulating a new equation for the amount of dendrotoxin she would have to modify and dilute.

My face felt like it was burning.

“Can we try out sixty-nine?”, I asked quietly.

Jemma’s face got red and her hair framed her face.

“I wouldn’t consider myself amazing at oral, but--”

“Oh trust me Jemma, you’re pretty bloody amazing at it…”

She blushed a deeper shade of red.

“Well, as I was saying, I’m not that amazing but I suppose practice makes perfect…”

May called us up on the communicators and told us that once the cargo pod was removed with all the underwear, we would be taking off.

Jemma and I went upstairs after saving our work and locking the lab.

Once we were back in the air, Coulson called us into the command center and began telling us what we would need to know for the mission. We would land on the SHIELD base, be briefed in more detail before being given our suitcases and fake IDs and passports before heading to a hotel in Paris.

We would arrive in separate couples and Coulson would be our chauffer, dropping us off at separate times before heading back to the BUS to run the mission from behind the scenes.  

We would be seated at the same table and all of us would be wearing a special type of bracelet that Jemma and I designed ages ago that would scan the food or drinks for any poisons, synthetic aphrodisiacs, and tranquilizers. They also scanned for metal filings or glass shards.

  After the meal, Skye and Ward would go and mingle and then begin arguing about wedding arrangements while in the company of the Noirs before asking them if there was someplace they could go away from the crowds to settle their disagreement. Then when they slipped away, Jemma and I would begin dancing or otherwise engage the Noirs in business talk or create a diversion if we needed to buy Ward and Skye some time.

After Ward and Skye found what they were searching for, Skye would plant a bug on a computer there which we would use to monitor the Noir’s activity.

Then, we’d meet up in the house across the plaza from the Noir’s residence and wait for Coulson to pick us up.

It seemed like a simple assignment but we all knew that even simple assignments could go wrong in so many more ways than we imagined.

We took a lunch break and Coulson told us to dance and practice our covers but to take the afternoon and evening off to sleep because tomorrow we would land in France and then the day after that was Valentine’s Day and that would mean it would be a zero hour for us.  

After lunch, Skye and Ward went off to the armory for weapons analysis. I noticed Jemma’s energy winding down shortly after that.

We were sitting facing each other on the sofa and practicing French phrases.

She began to nod off and then jolted herself awake and  saw her do this twice before I asked her again how much sleep she got.

This time she was specific in her reply.

“Only about three hours…”, she yawned, “Maybe less…”

I scooted down to her end of the sofa and took the phrase book from her hands and laid it on the coffee table before wrapping an arm around her.

“Baby girl, you know you can’t function on that type of sleep…”, I murmured as she rested her head on my shoulder and her eyelashes fluttered against my neck.

She whined out an, “I know…”, and I just had to smile at how unlike her it was. Usually I was the one whining about something and it was always about something stupid too, like the lab smelling like rotting flesh or formaldehyde while Jemma was dissecting something.

“Well, I do believe Coulson said for us to take it easy. Maybe you should take a nap…”, I suggested.

 “No, because if I go to sleep now, I’ll be well-rested when it’s time for me to _actually_ go to sleep, and that won’t help me very much at all.”, she replied, “I’ll go to bed early tonight and get my sleep schedule back on track.”

“Then what do you propose we do for the rest of the afternoon?”, I asked.

“We could go back downstairs and I could finish that dendrotoxin while you finish that rendering of the new gun.”, Jemma suggested.

I shrugged and followed her downstairs.

We talked while we worked and bounced ideas off of each other and we were just being ourselves.

Jemma was talking a mile a minute, speaking a language of science that only I could understand. Her beautiful honey brown eyes were wide with wonder and aglow with intelligence. When she smiled, it was like the first warm spring breeze after a bitterly cold winter.

 This was one of the many sides of Jemma that I adored.

I had seen the beauty of her mind before I even saw the beauty in her heart and body. I fell in love with her intelligence first then the rest of her followed.   

“Maybe I can do something new with the dendrotoxin to make the effects last longer without upping the dosage… I want this new gun to have the ability to stop them without killing them with an overdose… What do you think?”, Jemma asked.

“Oh, that’s a good idea, I already have the bullets designed in a similar way to those in the Night-Night guns.”

“How are those tag rounds coming?”

“I have their rendering finished and now I’m working on the combo rounds.”

We continued on like this, gradually addressing each other as Cody and Lydia to get into character (Jemma excels at preparation) until dinner and after that, Jemma was completely exhausted.

“We land in Paris tomorrow, so get your rest tonight and have your bags packed before bed.”, Coulson said after dinner before we were free.

I brushed my teeth next to Jemma and then kissed her goodnight at the door to her bunk. I was still sexually frustrated from her earlier teasing but exhaustion ultimately won me over so I put my libido on hold with a sleepy sigh to retire to my own bunk and crawl under the covers.

I was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

It was a nightmare.

I was alone in a darkened, empty ballroom and Jemma was nowhere to be found. I heard her yelling for help, but I couldn’t pinpoint her location because of how her voice echoed.

I ran aimlessly, yelling for her until her pleas stopped as a gunshot rang out.

I jolted awake.

Somehow I knew that tomorrow wouldn’t be a cakewalk and I fell into an uneasy sleep.  

I woke up a short time later (it _felt_ like a short time, it was probably hours later)  when I heard the sound of my bunk door opening and closing.  

Jemma’s petite silhouette was brought into focus by the dim lights around the paneling in my bunk.

“Jemma… what are you doing in here?”, I asked groggily as I slid over and lifted the covers up for her.

She approached and slipped in beside me, her warm body heating me up instantly.

“I wanted to be near you.”, she replied, facing me and snuggling close.

I wrapped her up in my arms  and held her for a long time. I didn’t want to tell her about my nightmare and ruin the moment, so I just pressed a kiss into her hair and listened to her breathe.

Jemma turned over so she was the little spoon and  I pressed a light kiss to her bare shoulder.

The tiny sigh of _“Oh”_ she released and the chill that ran down my spine in response told me that she and I still had the frustrations from earlier hiding just below the surface.

 I decided to test that theory and I pressed my lips to the place where her neck and shoulders met.

She sighed again, this time pressing back into my body and I slipped my arm around her midriff and pulled her closer.

I began pressing kisses against her neck and I felt her reach back and then I quietly moaned from low in my throat as her slender fingers glided over my crotch, feeling my burgeoning erection.

My hands drifted up towards her breasts and palmed them gently through her camisole as I felt my blood head south. I felt a ripple of self-satisfaction pass through me when I felt her nipples peaking up under my touch. I slowly began teasing the hardened peaks, rolling them between my fingers and pinching gently, knowing how sensitive they could be. She hissed as I pinched a little too hard and I murmured an apology before rubbing soft circles around them with my thumbs instead.

Her fingertips manipulated the fabric of my boxers over the head of my cock and I rolled my hips into her touch with a groan.  

Jemma’s hold on my now fully hardened cock was slackening and I stopped teasing her breasts when she pulled her hand away to ask her if she was okay, but before I could open my mouth to ask, she took one of my hands and guided it down to the front of her knickers.

“Please…”, she whispered before slipping her camisole over her head and tossing it aside.

I obliged and cupped her mons gently, groaning against her neck when I found her already soaking through her knickers. I used my fingertips to manipulate the sodden fabric over her most sensitive areas and she slid her hand down and began pushing my boxers off.

She groaned in frustration when I pulled away completely and shucked off my vest and boxers only to purr contentedly when I returned to spoon her again.

I felt around blindly until I found her clit through her knickers and then began circling it slowly with my index finger, working her up.

Her breathing became more labored as her hand wrapped around my length and began to stroke. I groaned again as she applied a little more pressure and twisted a little near the head.

I pushed her knickers aside and slid my fingers through her wet heat. I teased her by slipping the tip of my index finger into her opening before removing it again and avoiding the places where I knew she wanted me to touch her.

I wished I could see her face because one of my biggest turn-ons was experimenting with different pressures and strokes against her to observe her responses. I wanted to learn how to please her.

I already knew from observation that if I slid two fingers inside of her, she would arch her back and bite her lip. If I stroked her G-spot, she would moan and grab my hair. If I bit her shoulder, she would want me to be dominant. 

I knew what I was doing was frustrating her because of the way she whined my name, but paybacks were hell.

She began to pump her hand faster along my length before removing it when I twitched and gasped. She began again, this time using my pre-cum as lubricant.

If she wanted to push my limits, she was going to have to try harder.

Begrudgingly, I made up my mind and placed a kiss on her neck before pulling away again and standing up to walk over to my closet.

“What are you doing?”, Jemma asked as she rolled onto her back and gazed at me.

I opened my closet door and pulled the box of condoms out my packed bag for tomorrow and shook it at her with a small smile.

“I don’t want to keep testing our luck, maybe on some occasions, but not all of them…”, I replied as I pulled a few out and put them in the bag.

She nodded and I turned around to put the bag back when my gaze fell onto one of my neckties hanging innocently nearby.

I shook my head at the notion of tying her up now, not after that nightmare.

I couldn’t shake the sick feeling that my nightmare was a premonition of what was to come and if this would be our last night together (God forbid), I wanted to make love to her.

I closed my closet door and pushed those negative thoughts out of my head as I crossed back over to  where she laid, placing the condoms on my bedside table as I went.

I slid under the covers so that we were facing each other and then we just stared into each other’s eyes for a tense moment and then we came together in a slow, passionate way.

Her hand grasped my cock and I slipped my own hand between her thighs to peel off her knickers. She moved to allow me to remove the offending item and then she parted her legs, granting me access to her most intimate areas.

She was soaked with arousal and she moaned my name softly as I slipped a finger inside of her. We came together in a hot kiss, her tongue tangling with mine. Our legs tangled in the covers as we writhed against each other.

I was so close but I couldn’t bring myself to care if I came or not. Jemma seemed to sense this and she slid down my body to take me in her hot mouth.

She pulled off of me after I was wet enough and looked up at me as she jerked me off. Her breasts grazed my thighs as she pumped her fist up and down my shaft. I went to warn her as I felt my orgasm approaching, but no sound came out as she twisted her fingers _just right_ and I came in bursts all over her chest.

She gasped as I shuddered and my mouth opened and closed uselessly for a moment until I finally managed to blurt out a coherent sentence.

“Oh God, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that…”

Jemma just leaned over and kissed me.

“It’s okay Leo… It’s nothing that can’t be cleaned up with some tissues.”, she said softly as she reached over to my bedside table and plucked some Kleenex out of the box there before wiping herself off and then cleaning me off.

She and I kissed again as I went through my refractory period and I fingered her slowly, drawing out her pleasure as Jemma half laid on me.

I held her and imagined that she was my wife and I her husband.

After about twenty minutes of making out heavily, I began to get erect again and Jemma took a condom and rolled it carefully over my cock.

Then she pulled me on top, her knees falling open for me. I looked up at her and she nodded her consent as I slipped all the way inside of her and used my second pillow to prop up the middle of her back as I lined up my pubic bone with her clit and began to grind into her gently.

She turned her head into my pillow to keep from moaning loudly.

She felt so good like this and I knew I could last for a while in this position, so I took my time with Jemma and lapped a path between her breasts before sucking a nipple into my mouth and teasing her with the tip of my tongue and the edges of my teeth.

Her hands slipped into my hair and gripped before tugging gently on my curls, making me growl my approval against her sternum. God I loved it when she would play with my hair like that.

I moaned against her throat as I ground into her a little faster and harder and she tightened around me.

I nuzzled my nose against hers in an Eskimo kiss and then watched her features reflect her pleasure.

She wrapped her legs around my waist and I slipped deeper into her hot core as she tightened up considerably.

I was coming closer to my second completion of the night, but she hadn’t had a single orgasm yet, a fact that made me feel quite guilty indeed.

“Harder…”, she gasped.

I changed my position and began pounding into her, my thumb sliding down over her clit to rub at her.

She arched her back and opened her mouth in a silent scream as she came in fluttering bursts, her body twitching wildly and I thrust into her as she tightened around me.

I collapsed against her and kept pounding, I was _almost_ there and then I was and it was like nothing I had ever felt before. Jemma was kissing me slowly off of my high and I laid my head on her chest, slipping out of her as I shuddered. She stroked my hair and hummed as I came down to earth.

I looked up at her from my position after a while to ask her something.

“Jemma?”

“Hmm?”, she hummed, lifting her brows.

“Can I go down on you?”, I asked.

She blushed and nodded.

I kissed her lips and then trailed my kisses down her body. She giggled when I kissed her belly and then I slid down to her folds and her hand tightened in my hair when I used my thumbs to part her.

I looked up at her and took in her heaving chest, her perky breasts, her rosy pink blush, and her hooded gaze  and then I winked at her before diving in.

I flicked my tongue on her clit before sucking on the sensitive bundle of nerves and then sliding lower to put my tongue to good use within her opening.

 _“Oh my god… Leooohhh…don’t stop…ah…ohhhh my… there!”_ , she gasped.

It seemed like it had only taken a minute for her to be pushed to the edge of her orgasm and then I was happy to lap at her clit once more to push her over the edge and then watch, transfixed, as her body curved like a bow as she emitted soft, high-pitched moans.

I tasted her on my tongue as she came, her sweet and tart juices gushing out rapidly and I lapped  them up as she shuddered, her whole body shaking as she clenched my hair tightly.

 _“Oh Leo…”_ , she whimpered as I caressed her clit slowly with the pad of my thumb.

Her mouth was open and her pretty eyes were blown wide, nothing hiding her euphoria except her hand, which she kept close to her mouth, should she have to stifle her moans.

I looked at her and was amazed at the way her body responded to me. She was blushing and whimpering as powerful aftershocks left her wrecked.

I placed a final kiss to the pink flesh directly above her highly sensitized clit and then got up to dispose of the condom.

I snuggled back in bed with her and watched her as she closed her eyes, her legs still spread, her petite form still shaking every now and then.

“That-that was… the best bloody orgasm I’ve ever had…”, she murmured as her body trembled and she looked at me, “Can we do that again sometime?”, she asked.

“We can do it right now if you want.”, I suggested, content to bury my head between her legs and stay there for the rest of the night.

“No, not right now…I’m still too sensitive from a few minutes ago…”, she replied, “Besides, I’m too sleepy now to be as responsive as I’d like to be…”.

“Then we’ll go to sleep…”

I pulled up the blankets and she cuddled against me.

“I love you.”, she murmured, blinking sleepily up at me.

“Love you too Jemma…now get some rest, we’ve got a long day tomorrow…”

Jemma kissed me and soon she was asleep and as I held her as close as I could, I promised myself that I would never let any harm come to her.

I felt the first tendrils of a peaceful, nightmare-free sleep pulling me under and I surrendered to it.

At least here, in my own bunk, I knew she’d be safe.  

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Like my work? Have a Tumblr? Look me up for MAoS related posts and little headcanons that I'll post every now and then! My URL is: nerdy-birdy18   
> Thanks for reading!


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